


A House Built on Sand

by Megumi0505



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alcohol Abuse, Alcohol-Induced Cheating, Angst, Domestic Violence, F/M, Flagrant Cheating, lots of smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2018-03-12 21:22:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 42,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3355703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megumi0505/pseuds/Megumi0505
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sakura got everything she wanted in the end....or did she?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Appearances

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 700 felt plastic and fake to me so my mind decided to run with that idea. This is by no means an interpretation of the canon, more like a catharsis to help me get over it. My mind is in a very dark place right now and I will most likely make you hate all of the characters involved in this. Feel free to chalk up any OOCness to "they grew into shitty adults".

Before we get started, here's a poem to set the mood for this fic:

 

**Fake**

Fake, Fake, Fake

Fake that smile

Fake that laugh

Do what you can

To make it last

 

Fake, Fake, Fake

No one can know

They all can see

What's hidden

Deep inside of me

 

Fake, Fake, Fake

The lies become grueling

The perfect image cracks

His hollow eyes meet mine

And I smile back

 

Fake, Fake, Fake

I can't go on like this, you see

Your perfection is my falsity

I'll drown myself in this fantasy

Maybe I can escape reality

 

 

**Chapter 1: Appearances**

Sakura read the letter over again for the third time just to be sure she wasn't seeing things. He was finally coming back, after months of being absent from her life, Sasuke, the man she loved, her husband, the father of her child, was finally returning home. Her heart should be singing with joy at the prospect of her lover returning....so why wasn't it? Where was this happiness that was supposed to flutter in her chest? Why did nothing but dread and guilt consume her?

It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that she got drunk one night at the bar after running into her and her husband's best friend whom she still had feelings for and then ended up drunkenly screwing after said friend got just as plastered as her, right? Nah, it had to be something else. Something wasn't sitting right with the way he'd been spending more and more time away from the house. Before, he'd only be gone a couple weeks tops before checking in, and he'd sent letters back almost every day chronicling his journeys and exactly what he'd been up to. Now, those letters were more infrequent and less detailed. Now it wasn't uncommon to go an entire month without even hearing from him; not knowing if he was dead or alive. She'd taken to skimming mission reports for mentions of Sasuke and relying on Naruto's Yin/Yang connection with Sasuke to tell her that Sasuke was still alive. Naruto assured her that if Sasuke did die, he would feel it no matter how far away he was. That's how strong their connection was.

While comforting, Naruto's offerings didn't help ease her worries at all, if anything, they made them worse. They didn't tell her what kind of condition he was in, if he was perfectly fine or barely clinging to life; she'd have no idea. Worse still, she couldn't shake the thought that if it was so easy for her to get drunk and cheat on Sasuke, what the hell was stopping Sasuke from doing the same? Oh right, Sasuke didn't drink...well....as far as she knew he didn't, at least. 

_Woah, since when did I stop trusting my own husband? What's gotten into me?_ She thought to herself as that disturbing thought had crossed her mind. She debated whether or not she should tell Sasuke about her alcohol-induced infidelity figuring it'd probably lead to another heated argument between them. That's another thing that was probably causing that dread to creep up, lately whenever Sasuke did decide to grace them with his presence; it hadn't been all that joyous. Sure, he and his daughter would be thrilled to see each other, but as soon as Sakura entered the picture, the mood always shifted to something darker, as if she were intruding on the love they had for each other. _No, that's ridiculous, there's no way he'd love his own daughter more than he'd love his own wife. That's stupid._

The constant fighting was wearing on her. Sure normal couples had their spats, but it seemed like any time they were together, Sakura would find something to nag on him about or accuse him of and he would always go on the defensive and it would always end up bringing out all this ugliness inside both of them. However, they never let it get too far; one of them would always walk away before it got to the point of throwing punches. Sure Sasuke had a temper, heck, they both did, but he never let himself get angry enough to the point of losing control of himself. He'd never hurt Sakura, well, not physically anyway.

The worst part is that their daughter was often witness to these fights and they scared her. Sakura would try to assure her that this was just a normal thing that couples did, but as she got older, it was becoming harder and harder to convince her, not to mention Sakura had long since given up trying to convince herself that nothing was wrong with her relationship. She'd just been naive enough to think that she could fix it before things got too bad. Now, on top of all that, she had to live with the guilt of having outright cheated. She wasn't exactly sure how bad was "too bad" anymore, but she was pretty confident she could shift that goal post however she needed.

What's worse than having a fucked up relationship? Having a fucked up relationship and then having to convince everyone around you that everything's peachy, when it's so painfully not. She'd become a master of fake smiles and faking happiness at the fact that her husband was off on another one of his journeys, faking joy at the things he tells them in his letters and when he visits. She loved when the conversation switched to her daughter so she could express some real happiness and pride at her daughter's progress in school. It's no surprise the daughter of two very smart individuals would be at the top of her class. What _is_ surprising is when she's compared to geniuses like her uncle. Obviously, Sasuke taught her very well, and she couldn’t be more proud of her daughters' accomplishments.

The act was fine for people who barely knew her, but for those who did know her, like Naruto or Ino, they saw right through her but chose not to say anything. She wasn't entirely sure why they kept their silence, probably because they didn't want to upset her or impose on something they had no business imposing on. Yeah right, like Naruto's dick wasn't already _imposing_?

Sakura put her palm to her forehead to try and get those thoughts out of her head. She knew if she didn't tell Sasuke, then Naruto most likely would and it'd be better that he hear this from his wife than his best friend. Who knows? Maybe he wouldn't even care all that much, it's not like Sasuke was all that great with relationships, anyway. Oh, who was she kidding? With Sasuke being as possessive as he was, if he found out Naruto had been inside his precious wife while he was away, he'd probably murder Naruto on the spot; without hesitation and without giving Naruto a chance to explain. _Great._

What's worse than having an absentee husband? Having an absentee husband and having a job that forces you to report to your husband's best friend, whom you still have feelings for and slept with while drunk. Also, being late for said job because you spent too much time staring at a damn letter. _Son of a bitch!_

 


	2. Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura got everything she wanted in the end....or did she?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, everything is fucked up and shitty right now, and rest assured, it's only going to get worse.

**Chapter 2: Confrontation**

"Here's those reports you asked for," Sakura informed as she unceremoniously dropped the requested medical reports onto the Seventh Hokage's desk. She turned to quickly leave before he could even get a word out but was stopped dead in her tracks when Naruto reached out and grabbed her wrist. Her head immediately snapped back to him in surprise and shock.

Naruto just looked at her, the worry clear in his eyes, "You don't look so good Sakura-chan, you should get more sleep and take better care of yourself."

Those words did more harm than good. Not only had Naruto refused to give up using the "chan" suffix with her name, even after getting married to someone else, but now he's even completely unaware that he's the cause of all her stress. Well, maybe not _all_ of it, but he certainly was responsible for a good portion of it.

Sakura just tore her wrist from his grasp and crossed her arms in defiance, "That's rich coming from someone who drinks himself to death to try and escape his own problems."

"That's not true!" Naruto tried to argue defensively. Sakura wasn't having it and just casually started rummaging through his desk drawers. "Hey! What do you think you're---" He was cut off as two bottles of sake were slammed down in front of him. Naruto froze.

"You were saying?" Sakura leveled him with a look.

"This job is stressful, okay? I need that to get me through it, that's all. It's not like I have a drinking problem, or anything," Naruto defended.

"Is that so?" Sakura questioned as she brandished a third bottle. "Then what's the vodka for?"

Naruto snatched at the bottle, "It was a gift from one of my overseas diplomats, I couldn't just not accept it, ya know?"

Sakura wasn't buying it, "Uh huh, and why is it half empty?"

Naruto averted his gaze at that, "Look, I'm not an alcoholic, and even if I were, that doesn't negate me worrying about you."

Sakura just casually placed the offending bottle next to the other two, "Yeah, and being stressed out to the point where I can't sleep doesn't negate me worrying about _you_."

"Why can't you sleep? Is it because we---"

"Don't you dare say that out loud, I don't care if no one's around, these walls aren't all that thick you know," Sakura cut him off, not wanting to hear her sins voiced by her best friend.

"If it's affecting your sleep, then you should probably talk about it. I heard from Sasuke's letter he sent me, that he's coming back soon. Is that what's causing your stress?"

"Well, that's certainly part of it, if he finds out about our drunken tryst he'll probably kill both of us, well, I'm not too sure about me, but definitely you and I definitely wouldn't be able to handle that," Sakura rambled out.

Naruto just smirked, "Heh, that does sound like Sasuke alright, maybe it'd be better if we didn't tell him," Naruto mused.

"Wow, you, of all people, telling me to lie and keep secrets from my own husband, that alcohol must have really done a number on your brain, huh?" Sakura scoffed.

"Or maybe I just have a greater sense of self-preservation than pride in honesty," Naruto corrected.

"Well you certainly have changed, what happened to that nindo you used to follow? What happened to 'living a life of no regrets?'" Sakura teased.

Naruto looked at her with dead seriousness, "That went out the window the moment you picked the wrong guy," he replied bitterly.

Naruto's words were like dumping a bucket of ice water over her head. All mirth from the earlier teasing was completely gone and once again all the guilt and self-hatred she felt started to bubble back to the surface.

How could he say that? How could he sit there and blame her for the problems in his life? What the hell? What happened was not her fault, she didn't ruin his life, so why was he acting like she did?

Sakura turned around abruptly to try and hide the hurt those words caused, "If Sasuke was so wrong for me, then why didn't you fight for me? Why did you just hand him over to me with your damn blessing no less?"

"Because I thought you'd be happy."

"Well, you thought wrong," Sakura chided as she stomped out of Naruto's office and slammed the door behind her. All eyes turned to her as she stomped through the hallway clearly ready to strangle somebody. She covered up all the hurt she'd felt with pure and utter rage. It wasn't until she got a fair distance away from the Hokage’s tower that all the adrenaline left her and she found the nearest alleyway to crumple down in and cry. Naruto's words really stung, they picked at all the guilt and self-hatred she felt for causing Naruto so much pain. One of the reasons she didn't end up going with him was because she felt she didn't deserve him. After all the terrible things she'd done, she deserved to be with someone like Sasuke, or perhaps she was convinced she could change him into a better person. Then why did Sasuke reciprocate? Did he really love her or was it out of pity?

Sakura wiped away her tears and tried her best to collect herself. No, Sasuke really did love her, who cares what the reason was? He loved her enough to have a child with her, they were even really happy at one point. So what happened? Sakura smacked her cheeks to try and get herself to focus. A determined look spread across her face. _I can get it back, there's still time to fix this. We can be happy again, maybe even have another child together._ She thought to herself as if a baby was enough to fix everything. Who was she kidding? Children are just another layer of complication, not to mention it'd give Sasuke someone else to love that wasn't her. Sakura put her head in her hands to try and stop those thoughts. _No, Sasuke loves me, there's no way I'm jealous of the bond he has with his daughter...our daughter. Sure those two are close because they're so similar, but we're closer._ She thought to herself, trying to convince herself that she wasn't a terrible person.  

~_~_~_~_~_~

Three days later found Sakura in her kitchen busily preparing dinner. She’d been pulling double shifts at the hospital due to the hospital being understaffed and today had been her only day off in what had seemed like an eternity. Thankfully, she hadn’t spoken to, nor heard anything from Naruto since the confrontation in his office. She figured they’d just been way too busy to even consider paying each other a visit. It’s not like Naruto would purposely request documents only she had access to just to have an excuse to see her, right? Or that he purposely wouldn’t in order to avoid her. Nah, Naruto wouldn’t do that. He’s not underhanded and manipulative like that. Then again, cheating on your wife and then keeping it a secret is quite the underhanded thing to do. Maybe she didn’t know Naruto as well as she thought she did. For a moment, she considered telling Sasuke out of spite, but stopped herself since that would most likely end her marriage and end up causing more problems for her than for Naruto since Sasuke’s methods for murder tended to be quick and efficient. Naruto would be dead before he’d even have a chance to regret it. No, Sasuke must never know. She’ll take this secret with her to the grave and so will Naruto. Hopefully the guilt won’t eat her alive in the meantime.

“Hey, Mum, what’s for dinner?” She yelped as she was suddenly jolted from her thoughts by the appearance of her daughter who was supposed to have been upstairs doing her homework.

“Oh, Salad, honey, I’m sorry, you scared me. I thought you were still upstairs, when did you come down?”

Her daughter looked at her worriedly, “Uh, just now…are you okay, Mum? You seem a bit jumpy.”

Sakura went back to preparing dinner, “I’m fine, I was just lost in thought, that’s all. How’s your homework going, sweetie?”

Salad didn’t seem convinced but didn’t push it either. She knew her mom had been working long hours at the hospital and didn’t want to burden her further with her worries. “It was a piece of cake, I already finished it, that’s why I came down here to check on dinner. What are we having?” Salad proudly boasted.

Her mom just snidely replied, “We’re having ‘you’ of course.”

The ten year old crossed her arms over her chest and grumbled out, “Seriously, Mum? Do you have to say that every time you make salad for dinner? Did you name me that just so you could use that line? Why did I have to get named after food, anyway? Why couldn’t I have been named after a flower, like you, or a famous person, like Papa?” the grumpy academy student continued to rant.

Sakura giggled at her daughter’s antics, “Hey, don’t knock being named after food, Naruto was named after food and look how great he turned out.”

“Don’t tell me you named me after food because of him. In that case, I guess I’m lucky I wasn’t named after ramen,” her daughter grimaced.

“Oh sweetie, there’s no way I’d name you after something like ramen, your father would never go for that.”

“Yet, he was okay with ‘Salad’?”

“Look, if you hate it that much, you can change it when you get older.”

“What? No, I didn’t mean it like that,” Salad looked away slightly embarrassed, “I like the way Papa says my name…er, I mean, can you just please stop using that line to describe our dinner? You sound like a cannibal when you say it like that.” Salad glared at her mom for effect. Apparently she’d picked up Sasuke’s habit, or maybe the infamous Uchiha glare was just an inherited trait. Either way, it hopefully got her point across.

Sakura smiled to stifle a laugh caused by her daughter’s adorable imitation of her father. It just didn’t have the same effect when she did it. “I’m sorry, honey, if it upsets you that much, I won’t say it anymore. There, there.” She said as she patted her daughter’s head. Salad remained pouty, displeased at being treated like a child, even though she still was a child, technically.

Their moment was interrupted by the sound of the front door slamming open, which could only mean one thing…

“Papa!!!!” Salad yelled happily as she raced towards the front door.

Sasuke hadn’t even had a chance to close the front door before he was tackled by his ten year old daughter. A small smile broke out on his face to indicate his amusement at his daughter’s antics before he knelt down to hug her properly. Yes, with both arms. Naruto had managed to convince him to get a prosthetic arm despite him having wanted to carry around that reminder of their battle for the rest of his life. Naruto said that’s the same as living in the past and you can’t move forward if you don’t let go of the past. Also, the pervert had mentioned how having both arms made sex easier, but that wasn’t too much of a concern for Sasuke. He’d managed just fine with just one arm. He basically did it to get Naruto to stop brow beating him about it. The blonde idiot could be quite the annoyance when he wanted to be. That’s for sure.  

“I missed you, Papa,” Salad said into her father’s shoulder as she eagerly returned the hug.

“I missed you, too,” Sasuke replied lovingly.

The sweet moment between them was cut short as the door behind Sasuke was slammed shut by a rather pissed off Sakura. “Don’t leave the door open like that! Bugs will come in!” His wife nagged.

“Nice to see you, too, Sakura,” Sasuke replied as he got up and walked past his daughter towards the kitchen oblivious to the death glare his daughter was sending his wife.

“Seriously, Mum? Papa, just got home after being gone for months and you’re worried about bugs?” Salad chided with crossed arms.

Sakura crossed her own arms over her chest and defended herself, “Well, what was I supposed to do? Leave the door open so anyone could just come in?”

“You could start by forgetting the stupid door and at least _acting_ like you missed your husband.”    

Sakura was taken aback by that, “What are you talking about? Of course I missed him.”

“Sure, which is why you nagged at him the first chance you got.”

“Look, just because little things like that get on my nerves doesn’t mean I don’t love him.”

Salad’s arms fell to her sides in shock, “Huh? I didn’t say it did, why would you think that? I just wanted you to treat Papa better; I wasn’t questioning your love for him. Seriously, what has gotten into you, Mum? You’ve been acting weird.”

Sakura’s arms also fell to her sides, “Nothing’s wrong with me, I’m just tired from work is all.” Sakura tried to cover that she’d accidentally voiced her own insecurities. _Oh great, perfect, now she knows I’m questioning my feelings, next thing ya know, she’s gonna be asking me what brought that on. Damn you, Naruto, you and your damn liquor and your damn words._

Whether she bought it or not, Salad backed off at that and decided to go join her father in the kitchen. Sakura sighed exasperatedly to herself and wondered why the hell things had turned out the way they did. She also grimaced at the realization that she was turning into her mother, the one thing she’d sworn up and down would never happen. She sighed again and slowly made her way back to the kitchen to finish preparing dinner.

Sasuke was seated at the kitchen table with his daughter in his lap as he showed her all the neat souvenirs he brought back from his trip. Salad looked at each trinket and relic with such wonder in her eyes. She really looked up to her father and wanted to be cool like him. Not that she’d ever admit that out loud, but still. She couldn’t help being amazed by all the neat stuff her dad brought home.

Sasuke pointed to a stone that had some weird carvings on it sitting amidst the pile on the kitchen table. “And this stone was carved using lightning.”

“Wow! Real lightning?” Salad’s eyes light up at the thought.

“Well, not the kind that comes from the sky, it was done using lightning chakra,” Sasuke corrected.

“Oh,” Salad deflated slightly, her father let out a soft chuckle at that, “Hey, don’t laugh at me,” she pouted.

“I wasn’t laughing at you, it’s just funny that you thought this stone was carved using an actual lightning bolt.”

The ten year old continued to pout, “Still feels like you’re making fun of me,” she said as she looked up at her father from his lap.

Sasuke leaned down and kissed her forehead, “I’m sorry,” he apologized.

Salad just glared up at him, “That didn’t even sound like you meant it.”

Sasuke chuckled a bit more, then put his hand on her head, “Then what was I supposed to do?” he asked.

“Now you sound like Mum,” Salad chided as she slid out of his lap and climbed into her own chair.

Sasuke just crossed his arms, amused at being shut out by his own daughter. “Well then, in that case I won’t show you these amethyst crystals I got from a town near a crystal cave,” Sasuke teased as he moved to shove his souvenirs back into his leather satchel.

“Wait!” Came the predictable response, “Is it real amethyst? Like the kind you find in rocks?”

“Yup, that’s what this stone sitting here was, but you don’t seem all that interested in that now, so let’s just clear off the table so we can start setting it for dinner,” Sasuke teased as he pointed at an innocent looking rock and then snatched it away from the table about to put it back in his bag.

Before he could, a tiny hand gripped his wrist and he smirked at having won their little dispute.

“Please, daddy,” Salad pleaded as she look up at him with puppy dog eyes. She usually didn’t break out the ‘daddy’ speak unless she really wanted something.

“All right, but this is the last one before dinner,” he said as he handed her the stone. She took it with much glee and anticipation, but was confused as she tried to pry it open.

“Urgh, it won’t budge!” She grumbled as she struggled with it.

“That’s because you need to use lightning chakra to open it,” Sasuke explained.

“But I don’t know how to do that. I’m only an academy student,” Salad complained, handing the stupid rock back to her father.

“Well then it’s a good thing you have me,” Sasuke said as he used a Chidori to slice the rock open. Inside were gorgeous light purple crystals that sparkled when they caught the light just right. Salad was too mesmerized by the sight to complain about her father teasing her.

“Ooo, so pretty,” She said in amazement as she reached out to touch the amethyst crystals. “Can you teach me how to do that?” She asked, referring to the Chidori Sasuke had used to open the rock.

“Sure, I don’t see why not,” Sasuke replied, amused at his daughter’s reactions.

In that moment, Sakura came back into the kitchen having heard the earlier squabble. “What’s going on in here? Are you two horsing around?” She teased playfully.

“No, Mum, look!” Salad exclaimed excitedly as she grabbed the two rock halves from her father and showed them to her mother.

“Very pretty,” Sakura commented, “Now how bout you tell your father to remove his dirty belongings from the kitchen table and wipe it down so we can eat from it and not worry about getting dirt in our food.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, “I’m right here, ya know, you can tell me yourself.”

“Why? You don’t seem to listen to me, maybe you’d listen to her instead.”

“Sakura, is something wrong? You seem….different,” Sasuke questioned, concern lacing his voice.

Sakura backed off a bit not wanting to repeat the same mistake from earlier, “I’m sorry, honey, I’ve just been really stressed at work, lately. They’ve got me pulling double shifts and it’s really draining.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, did you need help making dinner?” Sasuke offered, genuinely concerned for his wife. Those dark circles under her eyes didn’t go unnoticed, after all.

“No, I got it, it’s fine. I figured you’d be here for dinner so I went ahead and made your favorite.”

“You did?” Sasuke asked, as he set the table, genuinely surprised at that.

“Yeah, I did, tomato salad, just how you like it,” Sakura said as she brought the serving bowl to the dinner table and set it down. “Now dig in.”

“Thanks, Sakura,” Sasuke said as he served himself and his daughter some salad. As he handed her back her plate, he idly wondered if she knew she was named after this dish. Hey, if Naruto could be named after his favorite food, no reason why Sasuke couldn’t name his daughter after his, right?

Dinner went smoothly enough; mostly it was just Sasuke talking about his travels with his daughter listening intently, a look of pure admiration across her face. If only she’d looked at Sakura that way, instead Sakura gets treated to glares and pouts. She supposed it was only fair since that’s how she’d treated her own mother. Perhaps it was just impossible for mothers and daughters to get along.

When they were finished their dinner, Sasuke offered to help with the dishes, to which, again Sakura refused. This confused Sasuke, “Sakura, if you’re so stressed out and tired from work, then let me help, I don’t understand why you’re refusing my help. I can do housework too, ya know.”

Sakura just turned to him trying to hide her emotions. It wasn’t just stress from work that was bothering her, the guilt of having broken her vows was eating her up and every time she looked at Sasuke, she wanted to break down and cry. It was killing her not being able to say anything to anyone about it. It made this marriage feel like a farce, like they were just going through the motions but didn’t have any real commitment to it. For some reason, having broken the trust she had in herself, was making it very difficult to trust her husband even though he hadn’t done anything. It’s like she was projecting her own guilt onto him, and that, in turn, was making her feel all the more guilty.

It was too much, this was all too much. Sasuke being here was just too much right now. Her emotions just toppled over before she could even stop herself. “Fine! You wanna do housework? Be my guest, quit making such a big deal out of a few dirty dishes! Quit acting like you being here is suddenly going to fix everything that’s wrong, because it’s not and you can’t!”

Sasuke was completely floored by his wife’s outburst. “Huh? Fix what? What’s going on?” Sasuke questioned dumbfounded.

 _Fix me_ , Sakura thought to herself. The pain and helplessness associated with that thought had her choking on tears as she ran from the kitchen to get away from her husband, not wanting their fight to escalate any further and being too hurt by her own thoughts to even voice them.

“Sakura…” Sasuke uttered as he was left standing alone in the kitchen holding the dishes Sakura had shoved into his hands during her outburst. Now he knew something was very wrong with his wife and instead of chasing after her, he decided he was just going to ask her friends about it since there was something she clearly wasn’t telling him and had no intention of telling him. Which was fine, Sasuke wasn’t the type to pry, and if she wasn’t comfortable telling him, then he’d just have to find out from alternate sources. Hopefully, her friends had a clue what was wrong with her, he didn’t want to have to resort to crueler methods to get at the truth.

“Papa? Is everything okay? Why was Mum crying?” Salad questioned as she poked her head into the kitchen, startling her father from his deep musings.

Sasuke unceremoniously dumped the dishes into the sink and turned on the water before turning to his daughter. “I don’t know, I think it’s more than just stress at work, but she won’t tell me anything.”

“Yeah, Mum’s been acting weird lately, I thought maybe the next time you visited things would go back to normal, but it’s almost like you being here only made it worse,” Salad mused as she walked towards the sink and grabbed a kitchen towel. “Can I dry?” She asked, eager to help her father.

“Sure,” Sasuke replied as he started washing the dishes in the warm soapy water that filled the sink. “How long has this been going on?” Sasuke questioned, wondering just how much he’d missed being away for so long.

Sasuke handed his daughter a dinner plate and she dried it absently, “I think it started about a month ago. I don’t know exactly what happened but one night, Mum didn’t come home from work like she normally did. Usually, even when she stops at the bar after work, she’d still manage to make it home before I had to go to bed, but that wasn’t the case this time.”

“Maybe she was just working late, the hospital is open 24/7, maybe they needed her to cover a shift,” Sasuke offered, not liking the idea of his daughter being home alone and unguarded.

“Yeah, I didn’t think too much of it, just made dinner for myself, read a book, then went to bed. I figured I’d probably see her in the morning and if not, then I was gonna go check the local bars to see if she was passed out drunk at one of them.”

“That’s happened before?”

“Yeah, Mum’s been drinking a lot more recently. I assumed it was just stress at work or maybe because she misses you.”

“I see,” Sasuke said as he absently scrubbed more dishes not liking the idea of his wife becoming an alcoholic because of him. It was bad enough his best friend seemed to have fallen victim to the bottle, he didn’t want his wife following in the blonde idiot’s footsteps. “So what ended up happening?”

“Oh right, so in the morning, I’m expecting to see Mum stumbling around with a hang over, but lo and behold, Uncle Naruto is just in my kitchen, making eggs like it’s the most natural thing in the world for him to be there. I was so shocked, I could barely even manage a greeting. He explained to me that he had run into Mum at the bar and she’d offered to take him to her place since her place was closer and his wife doesn’t really like when he comes home smelling like sake,” Salad explained as she toiled away drying the dishes as if this was just a normal, casual conversation.

Sasuke dropped the cup he was scrubbing and it fell back into the soap water with a splash. He turned to her almost in shock, “Naruto, was here?”

“Yeah, making eggs.”

“Making eggs? In _my_ kitchen, in _my_ house?”

“Yup, shirtless, too.”

“Shirtless??!!!!” Sasuke had to grip the sink to not let his anger spill out. He knew this was probably some huge misunderstanding but he couldn’t help it. Naruto had spent the night, drunk off his ass and so had his wife, probably equally drunk. Who knows what could have happened? It’s not like Salad was awake when they stumbled in at the wee hours of the morning. Wait, if Naruto was able to make eggs, did that mean he didn’t have a hang over? Nah, that idiot could be in immense amounts of pain and still be able to hide it behind a smile, he could easily hide a pesky hang over headache no problem.

Well at least he had a better idea of what was going on with his wife, now. He’d leave Sakura alone for now and go confront Naruto about it tomorrow. See what the idiot had to say for himself.

Salad noticed her dad gripping the sink like he was trying to kill it. “Uh, Papa? Are you okay?” His arms were trembling with the force he was exerting on the unsuspecting metal basin.

Salad’s question seemed to snap Sasuke out of his thoughts and he let go, leaving behind two hand shaped imprints. “Yeah, I’m fine, I’m just going to have a word with your uncle tomorrow.”

The ten year old just looked on worriedly, not quite understanding what was so wrong about her uncle spending the night. “Hey Papa, I think maybe I should finish the dishes, you look like you might break them by accident,” Salad offered with a pointed nod towards the hand indentations on the sink. 

Sasuke just looked away, “Yeah, you’re probably right, thanks hun,” he said before leaving the kitchen to go calm down. Salad gave a solemn look towards her father’s retreating back. She was worried about both her parents. Lately their fights had been escalating and she’d hoped the time they spent apart would have fixed that, but it hadn’t. She was worried they might start throwing fists instead of words at each other. Their fights were scary, mean, and viscous. She had no idea why they seemed to bring out the worst in each other and it made her feel helpless that there was nothing she could really do about it. It was between them and it was up to them to either fix it or just let it continue to spiral out of control.

That night, Sakura had just said good night to her daughter and was getting ready for bed when she heard the front door open and close and then soon after, her husband entered their shared bedroom.

“Where were you?” She questioned, wondering what he’d been doing outside at this time of night.

Sasuke just shrugged off the question as he stripped down and got ready for bed, “I just went for a walk. I needed to clear my head.”

“Oh, okay, um, honey?” Sakura hesitated before making her request. Sasuke was intimidating when he was pissed off.

“What is it, Sakura?” Sasuke questioned as he crawled into bed with her.

“Well, I was just thinking, um, since we’ve both been under a lot of stress lately, maybe we could, ya know, relieve some of that stress?”

Sasuke just abruptly turned onto his side showing her his back, “I’m not having sex tonight, Sakura, just go to sleep.”

“But, we haven’t done it in months, don’t guys go through withdrawal if they don’t get enough sex?” Sakura half teased.

“Sakura, sex has never been a big deal for me, you know that, I’m not a pervert like Naruto who needs it all the time or he’ll go crazy.”

Sakura stiffened at the mention of Naruto which didn’t go unnoticed by Sasuke. She tried to lighten the mood a little and blurted out, “Heh, you’re gone so much, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were getting it from somewhere else,” Sakura chuckled nervously at her own joke but Sasuke didn’t respond at all. Perhaps he hadn’t heard her or perhaps he didn’t find it funny, either way, the deafening silence that followed was so thick, she could barely breathe, let alone sleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to stop making Salad and Sasuke so damn cute. It's giving me feels.


	3. One Little Mistake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura got everything she wanted in the end....or did she?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you things were gonna get worse. Poor sweet, innocent Salad has no idea the implications of what she said. Now let’s see how Naruto handles being confronted by Sasuke. Is he going to go with his original plan of not telling him shit? Or is he going to stab Sakura in the back and tell Sasuke he fucked his wife and he’d probably do it again given the chance? Lol.
> 
> Extra Warning for This Chapter: Excessive cursing; Contains explicit and hardcore smut, if you don’t like it, you can skip the middle portion of the flashback.

**Chapter 3: One Little Mistake**

Sasuke stomped through the halls of the Hokage tower in the same way his wife had done not too long ago, looking like he was ready to murder the first person who dared to make eye contact with him. To the unknowing onlookers, it probably looked like Sasuke was here to get revenge for whatever Naruto had done to piss off Sakura. People made sure to advert their gazes and get the heck out of his way lest he trample them in his furious stride towards the Hokage’s office.

When Sasuke finally reached said door, he found it locked, to which he kicked it open. He wasn’t about to let a measly thing like a locked door get in the way of grilling his best friend. When he barged into the office, several sets of wide eyes and one set into an angry glare all locked onto him. Sasuke ignored all the gazes and just said his peace like he hadn’t just interrupted a very important meeting, “Naruto, I need to talk to you, **now**.”

Naruto’s glare morphed into a look of incredulous anger at Sasuke’s sheer audacity. Who the fuck did he think he was? “Sasuke? What the hell?! Can’t you see I’m in the middle of a meeting?! You can’t just barge in like you own the place and then demand to speak to me. I have a village to run and peace to maintain, I’m sorry, but you’re gonna have to wait til I’m done here.”

Naruto had thought that would have been enough to dismiss Sasuke, but Sasuke wasn’t easily deterred, especially not when he was this pissed off. As Shikamaru tried to drag Sasuke out of the office with a, “Here, just wait in the hallway, I’ll come get you when we’re done,” Sasuke wasn’t having any of it and tore his arm from Shikamaru’s grip, charged back in, and shouted angrily, “Did you sleep with my wife?!”

Every jaw in that office dropped to the floor in shock that Sasuke had just blurted that out, in a room full of politicians, no less. Naruto was livid, in the blink of an eye, he had made a clone and said clone was angrily dragging Sasuke out of his office and down the hall. When they were a fair distance away from the Hokage’s office, he threw Sasuke into an empty room and slammed the door behind him.

“What the FUCK Sasuke?! You can’t fucking do that! What is your problem?!” The blonde screamed at him while flailing his arms wildly.

“You’re my problem,” Sasuke replied, not at all phased by Naruto’s rough treatment.

“You can’t just go accusing me of random shit whenever you feel like it. There’s plenty of people who don’t want me to be Hokage and would gladly use anything they could against me. If something like ‘the Hokage having an affair’ got out, I’d have to resign just from all the bad press that would generate,” Naruto explained as he calmed down. 

“Oh believe me, if I find out you’re having an affair with my wife, a scandal will be the _least_ of your worries, dobe,” Sasuke threatened angrily.

Naruto crossed his arms and leveled Sasuke with a calm gaze, “Look Sasuke, I’m not having an affair with your wife, I have no clue where you’d even get such a crazy idea. I’d never do anything to jeopardize my own marriage, let alone Sakura-chan’s marriage on top of that.”

Sasuke bristled at Naruto referring to his wife so familiarly, even though he’d done that since they were kids, ever since he married Sakura, it always irked him that Naruto never dropped the suffix with her. He shook off his discomfort and continued, “Where did it come from? Well, let’s see, I hear from my daughter that you spent the night over our house about a month ago because you were too drunk to make it back to your own house.”

Naruto nodded in remembrance, “Yeah, that’s right, I crashed on Sakura-chan’s couch and then in the morning I made eggs for her and Salad. What’s the big deal?” Naruto feigned ignorance.

“Why had your shirt gone missing that morning?” Sasuke questioned accusingly.

Naruto just rolled his eyes, “Well, even drunk off my ass, I’m not comfortable sleeping in my clothes so I’d stripped down to my boxers to sleep and in the morning, I tugged on my pants so that I wouldn’t be indecent while making breakfast.”

Sasuke was miffed at how easily Naruto spoke, either he was telling the truth, or he’d gotten really good at lying through his teeth. Then again, since his story was consistent with what Salad had told him so far, they’d be more half-truths than actual lies. Too bad Sasuke didn’t have his own personal human lie detector with him. Without realizing it, Sasuke mumbled out, “I wish Karin was here,” to which Naruto stopped talking and just looked at him confused.

“Why the hell are you suddenly bringing up my cousin? What the hell? Do you not trust me or something? You think your best friend would lie to you? Or is she just always on your mind and you can’t help it?” Naruto turned the tables on Sasuke.

Sasuke realized he’d accidentally voiced his thoughts a bit too late, “I didn’t mean to say that out loud, fuck, it’s not that I don’t trust you, Naruto, I just, both you and Sakura haven’t been acting like yourselves lately so it’s really hard to---“

Naruto cut him off, “To trust us?”

Sasuke grimaced realizing he’d just contradicted himself. “Yeah, I guess. So, did Sakura also crash on the couch with you or did she end up sleeping somewhere else?”

Naruto just shook his head at Sasuke, “For a guy who just admitted he doesn’t trust me, you sure are inquisitive.”

“Idiot, I’m giving you a chance to prove yourself,” Sasuke countered with a huff.

Naruto just smirked at him, “Yeah? And how do you know I’m not just guessing or making shit up myself because I was too drunk to remember anything?”

“I don’t, were you too drunk to remember anything?” Sasuke deadpanned.

“No, for your information, I remember everything just fine, even waking up and throwing up in the morning,” Naruto boasted.

“That was more than I needed to know,” Sasuke grimaced. “So, according to you, the two of you just stumbled into the house drunk, you managed to get as far as the couch, but Sakura managed to make it to her room?” Sasuke questioned in disbelief.

“Yeah, I think that’s what happened, I’m kinda fuzzy on some of the details, I mean I _was_ intoxicated, ya know.”

Sasuke scoffed, “You just _said_ you remembered everything clearly.”

“No, I meant I didn’t black out like Sakura-chan, did. She remembers nothing so don’t bother asking her about it. She won’t be much help to you,” Naruto defended.

Sasuke scoffed, “I wasn’t planning on asking her anyway, she seems pretty keen on not telling me whatever it is that’s bothering her, so that’s why I’m questioning alternate sources in the first place.”

Naruto just shook his head, “You make it sound so creepy, like you’re keeping tabs on your wife or something. I suppose it’s endearing that you care enough about her to try and find out what’s bothering her, but the way you go about is…well…unsettling.”

Sasuke just shrugged at that, “Well, I didn’t exactly ask for your opinion, all I want is the truth.”

“Why? So you can confront Sakura-chan about it?” Naruto questioned.

“No, so I can help her,” Sasuke countered, pissed off that Naruto automatically assumed he was trying to pick a fight with his wife. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe I don’t like seeing her suffering by herself like that? Obviously she’s carrying around a huge burden that is weighing heavily on her.”

Naruto was surprised by Sasuke’s candid display of emotion and genuine concern; usually Sasuke didn’t voice this kind of thing and would rather keep it bottled up. “So you want to help shoulder that burden,” Naruto stated in disbelief at how the tables had turned. It seemed like only yesterday Naruto was a teenager desperately trying to shoulder his best friend’s burdens. Now here was Sasuke desperately trying to shoulder someone else’s burdens.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Sasuke admitted being completely oblivious to the gravity of what he was saying.

Naruto stood there dumbfounded, he honestly wasn’t expecting Sasuke to be this…upstanding, and it made it even more difficult and also painful to lie to his face like this. He took a moment to think long and hard about his next response. He desperately wanted to come up with something that would both placate Sasuke but also not betray Sakura’s trust in him. He finally settled on the easiest option available to him: playing dumb.

“Look, I don’t know what’s bothering Sakura-chan, but I didn’t sleep with her. I spent the night, then made eggs, then showered, and left to go to work. That’s all that happened.”

“Did you have a hangover?”

“Oh yeah, the worst, Salad even gave me some pain killers that really helped.”

“But you were fine with making breakfast?”

“Uh, yeah, I have a high pain tolerance, I could probably murder an entire squad of elite shinobi with a broken arm and three cracked ribs; a stupid little headache is nothing.”

“If it’s nothing then why did you need the pills?”

Naruto sighed in frustration, “Look, I didn’t need the pills, per se, but they did help regardless.” The clone rubbed his temple feeling the beginnings of a migraine coming on caused by Sasuke’s incessant interrogation. “Are we done, here? These constant questions are starting to give me a headache,” the clone complained.

“I thought headaches were nothing,” Sasuke teased.

“Oh that is it! Fuck you!” The clone cursed as he dispelled himself leaving Sasuke alone and unsatisfied with the way that turned out. _Fuck, I wanted the truth but that idiot left me with more questions than answers. Guess I’ll just have to ask Salad. Wait, what the hell? Why does it seem like the only person I can trust is my daughter? What the fuck happened to us?_

With that unsettling realization beginning to sink in and with Naruto gone, Sasuke gave up any hope of continuing their conversation and left the room he had been previously shoved into. He sauntered down the hall in a less pissed off and more bewildered fashion. The onlookers still adverted their gazes but did notice the difference in his stride. It was less purposeful, more meandering, like he wasn’t sure exactly where he was going or didn’t care. Sasuke figured he’d head home for now and see if there was any housework he could help with figuring it was the least he could do to try and ease at least some of his wife’s burdens.   

~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Sakura roamed the halls of the hospital in her long flowing doctor’s coat with Shizune right beside her going over the day’s agenda. Sakura was only half-listening; she was in a daze due to not having been able to get even a wink of sleep the previous night. Sasuke being so close in proximity yet so emotionally distant he might as well have been on the other side of the world bothered her a great deal. She wondered if she was partly to blame, the guilt and fear of him finding out causing her to unconsciously keep him at arm’s length. Is that why having him so close only seemed to amplify the pain? Is that why she was irrationally infuriated by even the littlest things he did? Is that why seeing him letting his guard down around his daughter and playing with her and acting like a normal human being was so painful?

Could it be that she wasn’t so much jealous of Sasuke, but of _Salad_? Like Salad had this ability to just effortlessly make Sasuke smile and all she ever did was make him miserable? Sakura stopped walking as that realization struck her. _All I ever do is make Sasuke miserable? No, that can’t be it; I’m not that terrible…am I?_

Shizune stopped walking when she noticed Sakura wasn’t following her and turned back to see her staring off into space looking completely lost. “Sakura-san? What’s wrong?” Shizune quickly ran back and tried to rouse her from her stupor by shaking her lightly. “Sakura-san! Are you okay?”

Sakura was jolted from her thoughts with a gasp suddenly realizing where she was. “I’m sorry, Shizune-san, I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately,” Sakura apologized while bringing a hand to her temple trying to stave off the sleep deprivation headache she could feel coming on.

“You sure you’re okay? You don’t look good, in fact, you look like you haven’t slept in a week,” Shizune replied while noting the dark circles under her eyes and gaunt, pale look to her cheeks. She looked both unrested and underfed. What could possibly be causing this level of stress?

“To be honest, it feels like months since I’ve gotten a decent night’s sleep,” Sakura admitted tiredly, realizing that trying to hide it from Shizune was futile.  

“When was your last meal?” Shizune questioned not letting up on her friend and coworker.

“Shizune-san, I appreciate the concern, but I can take care of myself,” Sakura tried to dodge the question, not feeling up to being grilled by anyone at the moment and also feeling guilty for making her friend/coworker worry about her.

“Sakura-san, this is serious, you have a daughter and a family to take care of, you can’t neglect yourself or they’ll suffer, too,” Shizune warned sternly, “Now tell me when was the last time you ate anything at all so I can decide whether I should hook you up to an IV or not.”

Sakura avoided Shizune’s gaze not wanting to see the concern and worry in her friend’s eyes. She was right, her family was already worried about her and it felt like everything was just spiraling out of control and getting worse and worse. How had this happened? When did she lose control of her life like this? It’s not just the thing with Naruto, she’d been to bars tons of times before that and never once ran into the blonde Hokage. So what was really driving her to drink so much in the first place? Could it be that the one night stand with Naruto was just a symptom of an even more pressing issue? Like she was trying to run away from something? What was she running from? The truth? What truth? What could she possibly be trying to hide from herself?

Sakura stared off into space again as she got lost in her thoughts again. Sleep deprivation wasn’t supposed to increase mental acuity, it’s supposed to decrease it, but it also lowers inhibitions so maybe the thoughts she’d usually try to avoid or keep at bay were now swarming uninhibitedly through her brain. She thought back on the letters, the infrequent visits, and the fights, it felt like she was missing something, something that was in plain sight. Something she drowned herself in alcohol to try and escape from. Something…like a failing marriage.

As that realization struck her, her pulse and her breathing sped up rapidly, and she started to hyperventilate, gasping for air, unable to catch her breath as the room started to spin. She clutched her chest struggling to breathe. Shizune grabbed her and tried to help her, “Sakura-san? Sakura-san! Get a hold of yourself! Sakura-san!” and that was the last thing she heard before everything went black.

~_~_~_~_~_~_

The school day was finally coming to a close and the teacher had decided to close out the day by giving his students an exam to be completed in one hour’s time. Salad had finished it in half that time and was now sitting in class bored out of her mind as she watched her other classmates struggling with it, some in various stages of panic, others were just calmly taking their time with it, and then there was Shikada, who’d finished it before even her, and was now fast asleep.

She sighed to herself, she didn’t really feel like taking a nap, but it’s not like she had very many options given that no one was allowed out of their seats until either the bell rang or everyone had finished the test. No exceptions unless it was a dire emergency, and with the idiots that populated her class, she knew for sure no one was getting out of here until after the bell rang. She sighed to herself again. Her eyes scanned the classroom out of boredom and eventually fell on Bolt. The biggest idiot she’d ever had the misfortune of meeting. He single-handedly dragged down their class average by always managing to get the worst grades imaginable. Some Hokage’s son he turned out to be, more like a disgrace to his father’s legacy.

Out of curiosity, she chanced a glance at what she could of his test and wasn’t surprised to find that, 45 minutes into an hour long exam, Bolt was still struggling with the first question. Maybe if he spent more time studying and less time pulling pranks, he’d have better grades. She supposed that’s what you get for being a delinquent. At this rate, he probably won’t even graduate the academy, let alone become a ninja. Which was fine with her, the last thing she wanted was to become a ninja and then have to deal with an idiot like him on her team. He’d probably end up getting them all killed or worse.

She didn’t like that her father seemed to have a soft spot for the blonde. As far as she was concerned, he didn’t deserve her father’s attention. So what if he was the son of her father’s best friend? He should quit being a delinquent if he really wanted to impress her father. Boys are so dumb. She was going to prove that girls were better by becoming strong like her dad. No, she was going to surpass even him and show the world what an Uchiha can be.

She was startled from her thoughts by the bell going off, dismissing them for the day. She saw Bolt still furiously scribbling away despite everyone else getting up to hand in their tests and leave. Even Shikada had woken up from his nap and was casually sauntering towards the door. Salad just rolled her eyes at Bolt as she got up to hand in her own test and leave.

When she stepped out the door to the academy, she was surprised to find someone waiting for her, namely, her father. Salad hated when he did this sort of thing, she was old enough to walk home on her own, she didn’t need a damn escort. As she approached her father, he greeted her normally, “Hey Salad,” to which she completely ignored him and walked past him as if he wasn’t even there. Sasuke just smirked to himself amused at being given the cold shoulder by his own daughter. “Well, that’s certainly not how you greeted me last night,” he teased as he turned to follow behind her. She just sighed to herself and rolled her eyes.

“That’s because you weren’t embarrassing me last night,” the ten year old complained.

“Oh? So you’re embarrassed to be seen with me?”

“Yeah, I can make it home on my own just fine; I’ve done it dozens of times before. The village is safe, I don’t need an escort.”

“Well, what if I told you I wasn’t planning on taking you home just yet?” Sasuke replied slyly.

Salad stopped in her tracks and turned around, “What? Where are we going then?” She questioned, curious and intrigued by her father’s odd behavior.

Sasuke just shrugged, “Well, last night you asked me to teach you Chidori and I figured now was as good a time as any, so---“

Salad cut him off excitedly, “Really?! Cool! Does that mean we’re heading to one of the training grounds or outside the village or something?”

Sasuke chuckled lightly at the sudden change in his daughter’s demeanor, “Yes, we’re heading to one of the training grounds where I used to train.”

“Wow, really? That’s so cool!” Salad exclaimed slipping into her admiration mode complete with stars in her eyes. She happily latched onto Sasuke’s arm and ordered, “Lead the way, Papa!”

Sasuke smirked, “Alright,” he said and then without warning he picked Salad up piggyback style. Salad yelped at being suddenly snatched up and pressed against her father’s back. Her arms instinctively flung around his neck and she squeezed tightly. He turned his head back towards her and said, “Hang on tight,” before he proceeded to jump across the roofs in the village towards the training grounds. Salad maintained her tight hold squealing happily as they flew through the village.    

~_~_~_~_~_~

**\--------Flashback---------**

_“Here you go,” said the bartender as he handed Sakura her sake. She poured some of it into her cup and took a sip. She scanned her surroundings, seeing the usual dregs of society this kind of place tended to drag in. It begged the question why an esteemed medical professional such as herself would end up in the same place as these nobodies and embarrassments to society. Perhaps it just went to show that everyone had their demons no matter their stature or social status and it seemed more people decided to drown their problems with alcohol than pursue ‘healthier’ methods of stress relief._

_Just as her eyes met a set of creepy dark brown ones staring at her from across the bar as if looking through her, the door to the bar slammed open and in walked Konoha’s loudest Hokage. Well, that’s supposed to be ‘orange’ but he’s more well-known for his inability to use an indoor voice whenever he gets excited or upset so it just kind of stuck. Sakura forgot all about the burning stare and focused her attention on her old teammate as he sauntered his way over to the bar and sat next to her._

_“Hey, Sakura-chan, fancy meeting you here,” he greeted cheerfully. Sakura just ignored his bright goofy smile in favor of brooding._

_“Hey, yourself, shouldn’t you be anywhere but here? I mean, it’s not like your office isn’t stocked with liquor,” Sakura chided as she took another sip of her sake._

_“I needed some fresh air to clear my head; work’s been a nightmare lately.”_

_“You can say that again, I’ve had to deal with so much bullshit at work because we’ve had to cut corners due to you not approving our budget proposal. Thanks, by the way,” Sakura quipped sarcastically as she took another sip to wash down that admission. She was already pretty buzzed and was saying things she’d normally hold back. Good thing the haze from the alcohol kept her from caring about being too harsh._

_Naruto took a swig of his own sake before replying, “Hey, that’s not entirely my fault. Missions have been scarce lately and the only other source of revenue for the village is taxes and handouts from the Daimyou. I can’t just pull money out of my ass because you want new uniforms or some shit,” Naruto replied bitterly._

_“It’s not new uniforms; we need that money to sustain operations. We’ve already cut our payroll, and switched to cheaper materials, if something isn’t done soon, I’m going to have to start laying people off, you asshole,” Sakura complained uninhibited._

_“Well what the hell am I supposed to do? The village is pretty much broke, well actually, we’re in debt, which is technically worse. You want me to loan out even more money and put us in even more debt? Or did you want me to beg the Daimyou for more funding? Cuz he sure as hell loves sinking money into something that isn’t making him any in return,” Naruto bit back harshly._

_“This fucking sucks, we’re understaffed as is and if I start cutting people, I’m gonna have to start picking up shifts just to keep things running. How the fuck am I gonna run a fucking hospital when I’m having to take care of patients on top of that?” Sakura cursed bitterly._

_“You could always just quit your job and go live off of Sasuke’s inheritance. His clan was wealthy as fuck. You seriously wouldn’t have to work another day in your life,” Naruto mused while taking a few more sips of his sake._

_“I could always just shove my foot up your ass, too,” Sakura grumbled angrily, “Don’t you fucking dare tell me that I should just give up on all my years of training to be a medic just because my husband happens to be loaded. Fuck you. In case you forgot, I’m not just a medic; I’m the best mother fucking medical ninja in the fucking world!” Sakura punctuated her outburst by finishing off her sake and slamming it down hard on the counter._

_Naruto was slightly taken aback by Sakura’s outburst. “Well damn, I forgot you get angry and vulgar when you get drunk. Heh, it’s kind of cute in a way.”_

_“Don’t patronize me, jackass, I’m in a shitty situation and it’s all your fault.”_

_“Calm down, I didn’t mean any harm,” Naruto tried to placate amused at just how drunk Sakura had gotten on so little alcohol; he’d also forgotten what a light weight she was. Against his better judgment, he ordered another round for him and Sakura before continuing, “Look, the current situation was brought on by the previous Hokages, I’m just trying to fix what’s already broken and that’s really hard to do when you have barely any funds to devote towards actually fixing it.”_

_“Asshole, I can buy my own drinks, you didn’t have to do that,” Sakura protested after Naruto had placed his order. “No, the current situation is that the war is over and things are peaceful to the point where people don’t feel like hiring ninjas for stuff.”_

_Naruto just turned to Sakura smugly, “Oh I know, but I wanted to. It’s not every day I get to have such a cute drinking buddy accompanying me,” Naruto schmoozed with a wink, his goofy smile and rosy cheeks adding to the affect._

_Sakura blushed at the sudden compliment and angrily rolled her eyes at Naruto, “Save it, asshole, we’re both married, you shouldn’t be hitting on me like that,” Sakura reprimanded just as their sake order was placed in front of them. Sakura snatched the bottle away from Naruto who’d been meaning to pour it for her and clumsily poured her own share despite Naruto giggling at her. “The hell’s so funny?” she questioned annoyed at her best friend._

_Naruto just sighed wistfully as if this situation were a dream come true, “Nothing, really. I try to be a gentleman paying for your drinks, pouring your drinks, giving you compliments, and you think I’m hitting on you. It’s cute, I don’t know how else to describe it,” Naruto continued giggling._

_“You’re drunk,” Sakura accused._

_“Not yet, but I’m getting there,” Naruto corrected, “I don’t need alcohol to find you cute.” Naruto took another sip of his sake then remembered their earlier conversation and decided to go back to it. “And if winning the war is the cause of our current problems, then you’ve got all four of us to blame for that, not just me,” Naruto corrected gleefully. Okay, so he wasn’t drunk, but he was definitely buzzed._

_“I don’t fucking care whose fault it is, not having a reliable revenue stream fucking sucks.”_

_“Heh, you’re telling me,” Naruto said slamming back more sake. “So, enough about work, how are things at home? You and Salad making out okay?”_

_“Oh yeah, we’re just fine. Even when that asshole’s not around, we can take care of ourselves just fine, I can pay the bills with my own money. Salad even pitches in with the grocery shopping and the chores when I’m too busy.”_

_“Yeah, she’s a good kid, you two raised her well,” Naruto complimented._

_“Well, I mostly raised her; Sasuke was more like a presence than a parent. He’d stick around for a couple weeks, then be gone for months, and just when you thought maybe he was gone for good, he’d suddenly show up again, like a ghost or something,” Sakura recounted as she sipped her alcohol._

_“Ghost or not, Salad certainly seems attached to him. The way she acts around him, you’d think he never left. Heh.” Naruto chuckled into his sake remembering the pair’s antics._

_“Yeah, well, it’s still ridiculously lonely when he’s gone. Letters are one thing, but they’re not going to keep you warm and safe at night,” Sakura complained as she downed more alcohol._

_“Oh come on, Sakura-chan, you know why Sasuke can’t stay in the village for long. Don’t act like he’s just doing it to piss you off,” Naruto defended._

_Sakura let out a long and agitated sigh, “I know, I know, I just, understanding **why** he does it or needs to do it does not make the fact that he **does** doit any easier to bear. It doesn’t make it any less lonely or easier to deal with.”_

_“Then why did you marry him if you knew he wasn’t going to be home much?” Naruto questioned genuinely curious._

_“Because I love him, asshole, that’s why. What other reason do I need?” Sakura replied tired of Naruto’s shit._

_“So much so that you didn’t even stop to consider what the reality of having an absentee husband would entail?” Naruto pried._

_Sakura sighed exasperatedly, the alcohol shortening her already short patience, “Look, Naruto, I’m not the one who proposed, it was him, I just went along with it without even thinking because I thought it would make us both happy.”_

_“Did it?” Naruto questioned disbelievingly._

_“Yes, as a matter of fact we were really happy at one point,” Sakura countered._

_“Yeah, so happy you’re in a run-down shitty bar complaining to your mutual best friend about your messed up marriage while getting plastered,” Naruto chided sarcastically._

_“Speak for yourself, moron, what’s got you in this bar and not at home with your wife?” Sakura tried to turn it back onto Naruto, annoyed at being attacked._

_Naruto avoided eye contact, “I told you, mostly work,” he said looking away._

_Sakura got even more annoyed and grabbed his chin forcing him to face her, “And what’s the other part of it?”_

_Naruto’s drunken flushed face met Sakura’s equally flushed face and looked her dead in the eye, “You,” he said with conviction. Sakura was taken aback and flushed even deeper as she let go of his chin, turned away, and started studying her sake cup as if it contained the secrets to the universe. Naruto continued uninhibited, “I never got over you and I drown that in alcohol. I try to not think about how sometimes I look at my wife and wish she were you. How sometimes I wish it was you I was waking up next to. Happy now? Congrats, you’re the reason I keep liquor in my office even though I lie and say it’s because of work. Fuck work, nothing’s worse than feeling dead inside and having to cover it up and perpetuate this stupid illusion.”_

_“Illusion?” Sakura tried to muster after being hit by that heavy reveal; feeling an odd resonance with Naruto’s words. She sipped more sake then turned to him and let him continue._

_“Yeah, this fake illusion that I’m happy; that just because I have a loving wife and kids that that’s enough to fill this emptiness inside me,” Naruto admitted heavily._

_Sakura was shocked hearing her own thoughts echoed back to her by her best friend. She’d been feeling empty, restless, and unsatisfied as well. She figured marrying Sasuke would take care of those lingering feelings she had for Naruto, but instead of dissipating, they only seemed to strengthen._

_“Sooooo,” Naruto purred with a rather perverted grin on his face. Sakura grimaced remembering that Naruto gets like this when he gets drunk. “Is Sasuke at least keeping you satisfied? I imagine since he’s not home much, when you two do get to do it, all that pent up sexual tension probably comes out all at once in this crazy frenzied fucking.”_

_Had Sakura been sober, she would have slapped Naruto across the face and called him a drunken pervert, then walked out leaving him to pay for her tab; instead, she just looked at him passively through her drunken haze and laughed at him. “Haha! If only that were the case,” she sighed to herself._

_“What do you mean?” Naruto asked, his curiosity piqued._

_“Well, if you must know, I actually don’t like rough sex, I make Sasuke go slow and be gentle with me,” Sakura admitted._

_“Damn, that must be torture, er I mean, um—“_

_“Thanks, jackass,” Sakura interrupted annoyed._

_“Sorry,” Naruto tried to apologize._

_“Don’t be, that might actually explain why we rarely did it. Apparently it was torture, it was a chore for him, fuck,” Sakura quipped bitterly as she took another sip of her sake._

_“Well shit, I always imagined you being pretty wild in bed,” Naruto admitted embarrassedly._

_“Sorry to disappoint, I guess I’m just a boring fuck,” Sakura gripped the sake bottle tightly to the point of cracking as she angrily poured herself more sake. She took a sip then slammed the cup down and continued. “Well, it’s not my fault; he got too rough with me once and scared the shit out of me.”_

_“So Sasuke lost control of himself while he was fucking you and then you couldn’t trust him again? What the hell did he even do?” Naruto asked unable to keep his questions at bay due to being intoxicated. Naruto always got more perverted and talkative when he got drunk._

_“I’m not fucking telling you; just that I can’t handle some of his… fetishes.”_

_“Sasuke has fetishes?” Naruto questioned, genuinely astonished._

_“Why is that so surprising?”_

_“I just, I never imagined Sasuke like that.”_

_“Well, sorry to ruin your image of your best friend, but you’re the one asking about his sex life,” Sakura reminded._

_“Heh, that’s true, I guess,” Naruto replied while nervously rubbing the back of his neck._

_Sakura just huffed to herself sighing and shaking her head at Naruto’s idiocy._

_Naruto continued, unable to get his sluggish and perverted brain off this line of questioning, “So, what’s your favorite position?”_

_“Huh?” Sakura had to take a moment to figure out if they were still talking about sex or if Naruto had moved onto something else. “Umm, I don’t really have one, well, I guess I like it from behind,” Sakura mused distractedly._

_“Oh, so you like doggie style? Nice.”_

_“Yeah, I like how deep you can go in that position.”_

_“Mmm, it is nice, I don’t blame you,” Naruto’s perverted brain was now feeding him images of himself fucking Sakura in that position. “Mmmm,” Naruto purred as the images blurred through his mind._

_Sakura just narrowed her eyes at him, “I’m surprised you’re thinking about that even though I’m apparently a boring fuck.”_

_“Hey, those were your words, not mine, ‘sides, maybe you’ll act differently around me.”_

_“Heh, maybe it’s not you, maybe it’s just the alcohol,” Sakura slurred._

_“Heh, maybe,” Naruto said as he leaned towards Sakura. He could smell the sake on her breath, it was intoxicating and alluring; it drew him in._

_Sakura looked at Naruto through half-lidded eyes. She barely registered that Naruto was leaning towards her; she didn’t even realize she was leaning slightly forward until she felt warm lips touching her own. She pulled back, startled. However, Naruto had a satisfied grin on his face, “That was nice.” If Sakura were in her right mind, she would have slapped Naruto right then and there and stormed out of the bar. If Sakura wasn’t drunk off her ass, she would have never leaned towards Naruto; she never would have grabbed the back of his head and pushed their lips together more forcefully. She never would have traced his lips with her tongue and pried them open so she could shove her tongue inside, yet here she was, hearing Naruto moaning into the sake flavored kiss as she dominated it._

_Naruto wasn’t going down without a fight and pushed back playfully with his own tongue causing Sakura to moan as he forced his way into her own mouth. Naruto ran his fingers through her pretty pink hair as he deepened the kiss. Sakura’s own hands lessened their grip on Naruto’s head and played with his sunshine locks as they passionately made out at the bar amongst an audience of inebriated lowlifes._

_When the hoops and cheers from their impromptu audience finally reached their ears, Naruto had gotten the first two buttons of Sakura’s blouse undone and was licking and kissing a trail down her neck. Sakura’s own hands had snuck under Naruto’s shirt and were teasing the bare flesh of his back as she moaned quietly from Naruto’s ministrations. They suddenly flew apart as the realization that they were not alone finally hit them. They sat there panting heavily with half-lidded eyes as they tried to get their bearings. They were flushed from a potent mix of alcohol and arousal. Sakura was so drunk, she was contemplating just saying ‘to hell with it’ and fucking Naruto right there across the bar. Naruto, however, retained a slight bit more of his senses and was able to have the presence of mind to suggest, “Maybe we should go somewhere a bit more private?”_

_“Mmm,” was Sakura’s mumbled reply not fully comprehending what Naruto was saying._

_“So, can I crash at your place? It’s closer and my wife hates when I come home smelling like sake,” Naruto clarified his request._

_Sakura just nodded dumbly only half-understanding what Naruto was saying. The haze of intoxication made it difficult to even see straight, let alone focus on words and their meanings. Naruto took the nod as an invitation and got up off the bar stool, stumbling a bit, but not falling. Sakura however, shot up, got dizzy, completely lost her balance, and ended up falling into Naruto who managed to keep both of them upright by some miracle. Naruto ended up having to half drag Sakura out of the bar as she had trouble finding and keeping her balance._

_Once they were out of the bar, they were welcomed by the cool crisp night air. Sakura kicked off her heels and picked them up; deciding stumbling around was better done bare foot than in high heels. She only had a vague idea of where they were going and let Naruto lead her around since he seemed to be the more stable of the two._

_~_~_~_~__

_After the struggle that was getting the key to go in the door knob and then turning it, both adults stumbled into the large house and promptly tripped over the sunken area where shoes usually went. The front of Naruto’s face and the side of Sakura’s skull made contact with the floorboards, but both adults were too intoxicated to really feel it so they just kind of lay there and giggled for a while until they decided it was time to attempt to get up._

_Naruto was the first to clumsily wobble to his feet. Once he was stable, he helped Sakura up, who immediately lost her balance and fell into his arms. Sakura giggled into Naruto’s chest before she found her footing and lifted her head and met his hazy blue eyes. Without even thinking, she raised her head and met his lips in a sloppy, drunken kiss. Naruto eagerly returned the kiss, not even noticing as Sakura slowly walked him backwards towards the couch. When the back of his legs finally hit the couch, Sakura pushed him onto it and then pounced on top of him resuming the sloppy, heated kiss. Sakura ground together their clothed crotches causing both of them to moan from the contact. She broke the kiss and left a hot trail of licks and kisses down Naruto’s neck as her hands snaked under his shirt, her clothed pussy still happily grinding away against the tent in his pants. Naruto moaned from the dual sensation and let his hands wander along her hips and up her back._

_Sakura stopped grinding for a second to let Naruto sit up so she could help him out of his shirt. At the same time, Naruto got to work on her blouse, making quick work of her buttons despite being drunk. Sakura helped him take it off of her and she undid her bra, knowing Naruto had no hope of getting that off while drunk. Both garments joined the growing pile near the couch where Naruto’s shirt had ended up. Naruto’s hands sprang up to grope her breasts and Sakura immediately started grinding against him again. Their lips crashed together in another heated and forceful kiss that left them both breathless. Their bare chests rubbed against each other, they both moaned into the kiss enjoying the thrill of skin to skin contact. Sakura’s hands gripped Naruto’s blond tresses firmly as she deepened the kiss by initiating another battle with Naruto’s tongue. Naruto’s hands trailed up her bare back enjoying the feel of her soft, smooth skin. He raised his hips to meet her downward thrusts eliciting more delightful sounds from the girl of his dreams that were swallowed by the heated kiss._

_With both being drunk and incredibly horny, it wasn’t long before Sakura ripped off her skirt and panties and Naruto had shimmied out of his pants and boxers. When they were both naked, Sakura’s attention was immediately drawn to Naruto’s impressive cock. It wasn’t as long as her husband’s but it was certainly thicker and that excited her. Had Sakura been in her right mind, just thinking about Sasuke would have snapped her out of whatever daze she was in and she would have run to her bedroom and cried thinking she was the worst human being ever and that she didn’t deserve Sasuke. She never would have settled her head between Naruto’s legs and started licking at his fully erect cock. She never would have wrapped her lips around his head after having been egged on by Naruto’s moans, she never would have started bobbing her head up and down on his cock, feeling it hit the back of her throat and moaning around it, loving the feel of it. Yet, here she was, with a cock down her throat and its owner burying their hands in her hair, grunting and gasping as she played with his cock._

_“Holy shit,” Naruto gasped, “Is….is this your…mmm…attempt at prooooving mmm….*pant* that you’re….mmfff!....not a boring fuck?”_

_Sakura lifted her head off Naruto’s cock just long enough to answer, “No, I just don’t give a fuck about anything when I’m drunk,” Sakura answered before resuming deep throating Naruto’s cock._

_Naruto threw his head back and moaned deeply, idly wondering if Sakura’s hair would be able to withstand him pulling on it so hard. “Well, shit….mmm….should probably….aah!...*pant* tell Sasuke….ngh that,” Naruto panted out between head bobs from Sakura. Sakura just gave a ‘hn’ in response, not even bothering to lift her head off Naruto’s cock in order to respond. Naruto idly wondered if Sakura had picked that up from Sasuke. If only Sasuke knew the kind of wild and sexy creature his wife turned into when she was drunk, he’d never see fucking her as a chore ever again._

_Naruto was in heaven, the whole thing was like a dream. The girl he’d always wanted, the one who rejected him and broke his heart now had her lips wrapped around his cock, moaning around it and using one hand to rub herself. Mmm, maybe this really was a dream? Either way, Naruto didn’t want it to end too quickly, so when he felt the heat in his gut coiling tightly and his balls draw up, he ripped her head off his cock and held her forcefully at bay despite her protests and whimpers. “Fuck, I’m gonna cum if you keep doing that,” Naruto panted._

_“Then let me finish you, what the fuck?” Sakura whined._

_“No, not yet, I want this to last. Here, let me return the favor by eating you out,” Naruto suggested._

_“What?” Sakura turned her head to the side, completely clueless at what Naruto was suggesting._

_“Let me lick your pussy,” Naruto clarified._

_“Huh? Why would you do that?” Sakura asked, her innocence making her unbearably cute to Naruto._

_“Woah, you mean Sasuke never used his mouth on you down there?” Naruto asked, genuinely surprised. Sakura shook her head. “Damn, well, did you ever suck him off? Like you just did with me?” Again Sakura shook her head. “Wait, so, that was your first time sucking cock ever?!” Naruto questioned in disbelief. Sakura just nodded her head sadly._

_“What the fuck? Was foreplay just not a thing with you two?”_

_“Sasuke didn’t want me touching his cock.”_

_“Yet he had no problem sticking it in you?”_

_“It’s…complicated,” Sakura said looking away embarrassed._

_Naruto shook off his shock, realizing there were more important things to worry about at the moment. He’d confront Sasuke about the proper way to pleasure a woman later. Right now, he had a delicious dripping wet pussy with his name on it._

_“Well, then you’re in for a treat. Come over here and straddle my face with your pretty little thighs,” Naruto coaxed as he patted the space on the couch near his head._

_Sakura timidly climbed over Naruto’s body, her drunken state causing her to be clumsy and knee Naruto once in the stomach and twice in the ribs. She apologized profusely each time, but Naruto didn’t really mind since the alcohol had pretty much numbed him to sharp pains. When both of Sakura’s knees were beside his head, Naruto lifted his hands and gently caressed the soft supple skin of her inner thigh. Sakura shivered at the contact, she was both excited and anxious. “Don’t be shy, spread your knees a bit wider, there ya go, now just relax, I’ll be gentle,” Naruto directed as he gently coaxed her into the proper position._

_Even drunk, Sakura was still embarrassed about Naruto seeing her most private area. Her husband was the only person who’d ever seen it and even then it’d been difficult at first. Sakura’s insecurities made her very self-conscious around Sasuke, even though Sasuke had said he really didn’t care._

_“Beautiful,” Naruto breathlessly complimented as he admired her delicate flower. He ran his thumbs along her labia and gently pried them open to reveal the slippery, wet flesh of her twitching pussy and the hardened nub that was her clitoris._

_The single word had drawn Sakura from her thoughts, never before had she had anyone look at her down there with such…reverence. It made all her insecurities calmly melt away and it gave her a sense of confidence she didn’t know she had. She went from not giving a fuck, to wanting to impress Naruto probably so he could continue to feed her ego like this. It was…nice…for a change. Sasuke never complimented her or admired her like that. Sasuke seemed to just tolerate her whereas Naruto truly admired her beauty and made her feel like she was a work of art._

_Naruto carefully nudged her legs further apart with his elbows and licked at the droplets of wetness that had fallen on his lips and nose caused by her shifting. “Mmm, delicious,” he purred as he savored the sweet tangy flavor of his dream girl. Sakura gasped and blushed at the compliment, still monumentally uncomfortable with this whole thing, but keeping it together for Naruto’s sake since he’s the one who wanted to try it._

_“Good, glad you like it, cuz there’s plenty where that came from,” Sakura was aroused by her own words, this new found confidence and sexiness taking even her by surprise._

_Naruto growled in arousal at Sakura’s sexy utterance and lifted his head to dive into those sumptuous folds. Sakura grabbed the armrest for support as Naruto lapped at her labia, trailing his tongue along the entire area. The sensations were so intense, she couldn’t even breathe, her body just tensed up as she tried to gasp for air. Naruto withdrew his tongue and chuckled, his warm breath ghosting over her sensitive flesh causing shivers to run up her spine._

_“Heh, how was that?” Naruto asked with a confidence smirk. He made a show of licking and smacking his lips to show he was enjoying himself and also to get Sakura to blush cutely._

_Sakura still had a death grip on the arm rest and was having trouble forming words. Looking down at Naruto’s sexy and confident face from between her thighs was not helping. She took in gulps of air, thankful that Naruto had let up and allowed her to take some much needed breaths. “That was…fucking…amazing, what the fuck did you even do?” Sakura panted._

_Naruto smirked confidently, “I did just what I said I would: I licked your pussy.”_

_“Did you lick my clitoris?” Sakura asked curiously._

_“Mmm, I think so, I just kinda swept the whole area with my tongue. If you like, I could swirl my tongue around your clit,” Naruto suggested._

_“W-would that be more intense than before?”_

_“Probably, you ready?”_

_“Fuck yeah, do it,” Sakura commanded._

_Naruto chuckled at Sakura’s needy behavior and set to work on the task at hand. He kept her flesh spread with his thumbs and zeroed in on that hard pink nub just above her pussy. He lapped at it rapidly with his tongue, enjoying the muffled screams and spasms it drew from the woman above him. He backed off a bit as he lazily swirled his tongue around it and then just as he felt the body above him begin to relax, he nipped and sucked at the nub causing Sakura to bite down even harder on her lip to try and muffle the surprised yelping scream that wanted to come out. Even with her daughter’s bedroom on the second floor, it was likely she’d be woken up if she heard her mom screaming from the living room. They both had to be careful not to be too loud._

_Sakura licked at her lip that had started bleeding due to her earlier abuse of it. The coppery taste flooded her mouth as she tried to get her breathing back to normal. Naruto just laid his head back down and drank in the sight of her as he let her recover. Her perfectly petite frame and modest breasts were covered in a thin sheet of sweat. He watched her skin glisten as it moved up and down in time with her rapid breathing. He didn’t mind taking his time with her and wanted to savor every second of this._

_Sakura shivered as she felt Naruto’s heated gaze trail up and down her naked body. She never had anyone stare at her with such intensity. It was unnerving, empowering, and terribly arousing all at once. When she had finally gotten her breathing under control, she looked down at the man still lying between her thighs with a playful smile. “Is that all you got or did you just get bored?” She teased._

_Naruto frowned at the insinuation that he was an inadequate lover, but brushed it off since he figured Sakura was probably just messing with him to get him going. “I’m just taking a break so that I don’t end up making you pass out just yet. I want you awake for this,” Naruto explained casually._

_“Well then, what else did you want to try with that tongue of yours?” Sakura asked curiously._

_Naruto stuck out his long tongue, then swirled it around in the air for a bit before letting it retreat back into his mouth. “I want to do that to the inside of your pussy,” he said while waggling his eyebrows suggestively and grinning perversely._

_A shiver coursed through Sakura’s body at Naruto’s suggestion. She’d never had an actual tongue in there. She’d never have thought to even do that. She’d thought vaginas were for fingers and penises and not much else. Why hadn’t Sasuke ever suggested trying something like this? Maybe he just didn’t know. Or maybe he didn’t want to bother since it would draw things out and waste time. Sex with Sasuke was all about efficiency; he didn’t waste time with things like oral sex, just gave Sakura what he thought she wanted and then that was that._

_Why was she thinking about Sasuke so much? Screw that asshole; it’s all his fault this is happening anyway. If he were here, she would have never resorted to drowning her stress and loneliness in alcohol in the first place. She’d be home making love to him, seeking comfort from him….not Naruto._

_“You okay?” Naruto asked concerned when he saw Sakura stare off into the distance lost in thought._

_“Yeah, I’m fine, uh yeah, sure, do whatever you want,” Sakura responded after being shaken from her thoughts._

_“Mmm, okay, I’m gonna see if I can make you cum,” Naruto declared confidently._

_Sakura just chuckled at him, “Good luck with that,” she teased._

_Naruto just huffed at that and lifted his head while bringing her pussy closer to his face. He gave a few teasing licks, loving the way she shivered and came apart in his hands. He teased her clit with his tongue a bit enjoying the muffled gasps, moans, and the hitching of breath it caused. Once he was done messing around, he trailed his tongue carefully along the contours of her snatch, and then gently pushed his way in. Sakura gasped as she felt the warm, wet appendage beginning to penetrate her. It felt strange, not painful; just weird._

_Naruto shoved his tongue deep inside her until his lips made contact with her labia. Sakura’s body tensed and her breath hitched as the slippery appendage penetrated her deeply. True to his word, Naruto swirled his tongue around inside her, enjoying the sweet, tangy, intoxicating flavor coating his tongue. He withdrew his tongue and used the seal formed by his lips to suck on her pussy, enjoying the juices flooding his mouth. Sakura bit into the armrest to try and muffle her moans. Her body spasmed every time Naruto’s tongue made contact with it. He teased her by pistoning his tongue in and out of her enjoying the muffled sounds spilling from her._

_Her legs shook with the effort to hold herself up; they felt like they’d turned to jelly. Her whole body felt boneless as Naruto pleasured her in ways she never could have imagined. Naruto stopped thrusting his tongue inside her and decided to thrust a single finger inside her, instead. She moaned and panted into the armrest, it just felt so damn good, his finger was reaching places his tongue couldn’t and it was coated in saliva and her juices to boot._

_Naruto was pleased by the unbridled pleasured sounds he was forcing from Sakura. He curled his finger and twisted it around looking for a certain spot. When Sakura suddenly stiffened and reared back with a hitched breath and a silent scream, Naruto knew he had found her g-spot. Pleased with himself, he continued abusing the spot, gleefully licking up the juices that seeped past his finger._

_Whatever Naruto had hit inside of her had sent a bolt of lightning shooting through her spine. Sakura had never felt anything that intense or all-consuming before. The white hot pleasure was blinding, it was like she’d already cum…no…this was better than orgasming. Holy shit, Naruto could keep on like this forever and she wouldn’t care if she never came._

_Naruto added another finger being sure to rub her g-spot on every thrust of his fingers. He enjoyed her attempts to catch her breath only to end in hitched breath and stock stillness every time he hit her spot._

_Sakura was beginning to think Naruto was just messing with her, but she didn’t care. The second finger was a bit uncomfortable at first, but once she adjusted, it was nothing but screaming hot pleasure. Naruto thrust them in and out of her with such force and he licked around his fingers and cleaned them good. She gave a gasping moan whenever she felt Naruto’s hot tongue against her heated flesh. Naruto being the sneaky bastard that he was didn’t even give any warning before he started licking her clit and fingering her. Sakura’s eyes rolled up in the back of her head, it was too fucking much. It felt so intensely good it was beyond words. Drool started to seep from her parted lips which had fallen open due to her slackened jaw. Her mind completely short-circuited, it was blank, and her world had turned into nothing but Naruto’s tongue and his fingers. She didn’t know or care if she was still breathing. She felt like she was dying and being reborn all at the same time._

_Naruto felt her thighs quivering and knew she was close. He added a third finger to stretch her further and then gently grazed her clit with his teeth before sucking harshly on it._

_Sakura didn’t know what Naruto had done but she felt an intense fire radiate through her and then her entire body spasmed and shook with the intensity of her orgasm. It was almost like she was having a seizure. She lost all control of her limbs and Naruto had to use his hands to support her and keep her from falling on him._

_Her juices sprayed all over Naruto’s face even with his fingers still inside her. It was too much for his drunken, uncoordinated self to lick up, but he tried his best to get as much of the deliciousness on his tongue as he could. When he felt her go limp, he quickly removed his fingers and caught her pelvis in his hands before it crashed onto his face. He gently eased her onto her back and then he eagerly put his head between her legs and went back to lapping up her juices._

_Sakura whimpered pathetically as Naruto’s tongue assaulted her super sensitized flesh. Her body tensed and twitched as Naruto continued cleaning her up with his fingers and his tongue. It was too much, way too soon, she felt like she was going to start hyperventilating if he kept going. Luckily, he finished up relatively quickly, so Sakura was able to catch her breath after a few minutes of them both awkwardly laying on their backs in a daze._

_“Holy shit, that was amazing,” Naruto mused, “Fuck, you even taste better than her. You’re so fucking perfect it’s unbelievable.”_

_Sakura enjoyed the boost to her ego and let the compliment wash over her as she recovered. “Mmm, I bet I’m a funner fuck than her,” Sakura slurred both from alcohol and from afterglow._

_“Oh?” Naruto asked amused by Sakura’s attitude, “If you do the opposite of what you do with Sasuke, then hell yeah you will be.”_

_“Oh? Is Hinata a boring fuck like me?” Sakura asked genuinely curious._

_“Let’s just say, she doesn’t like rough sex, either.”_

_“Hn, interesting,” Sakura mused. That’s when a sudden idea struck her and she decided to just go for it. Flipped herself onto her belly, got on all fours and presented herself to Naruto._

_“Mmm, that’s fucking sexy. Animals do that when they wanna get fucked, it’s called ‘presenting’ Kurama actually told me about it,” Naruto explained in a deep husky voice tinged by arousal._

_“Oh? Kurama talks about that sort of thing with you?” Sakura questioned while still sticking her perfect little ass in the air._

_Naruto got on his knees and scooted his way towards her, “Yeah, he’s a perverted stupid fox,” he grabbed her hips and caressed them lovingly, “He’s always sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong,” he started rubbing his achingly hard and dripping cock against her pulsing snatch._

_Sakura moaned at the contact, “Mmm, is he bothering you now?”_

_“Nope, he’s blessedly silent for a change, must be taking a nap or something,” Naruto explained as he continued teasing her pussy with his cock, smearing his precum around it._

_Sakura huffed impatiently, “Stop fucking teasing me and just fuck me already,” she commanded forcefully._

_Naruto felt his cock harden even further at the command, “Yes, ma’am, holy shit, you’re so fucking sexy.” Naruto mumbled as he pressed his cock against her quivering hole. With only saliva and Sakura’s juices lubricating him, it was a bit of a rough entry but Naruto managed._

_Sakura felt Naruto’s head stretching her, it hurt; she wasn’t used to Naruto’s thickness. She whimpered a bit struggling to relax her muscles which kept wanting to tense up instinctively at the intrusion. It’d been a while since she’d had sex so she was still very tight despite Naruto’s earlier stretching._

_Naruto heard her whimpering in pain and summoned every ounce of effort to make himself go slow despite wanting to pound as hard as he could into that tight, wet heat. He only had his head inside her and already she was squeezing him so good he was about to lose his mind. Of course the girl of his dreams had a fucking perfect pussy to go along with all the other perfect things about her._

_Naruto slowly slid into her inch by inch, she was starting to get used to his girth and it was starting to hurt less and less. Once Naruto was fully inside her, he stopped moving to help her adjust. “No, don’t stop moving, just go, I’ll get used to it,” Sakura commanded._

_“Holy shit, you’re so fucking sexy when you give commands like that, it’s a good thing you’re not doing dirty talk or I might have already blown my load,” Naruto moaned as he complied with Sakura’s command._

_“Oh, you like dirty talk?” Sakura purred as Naruto slowly slid out and then thrust back in. “Mmm, just like that, fuck me like a dirty whore,” Sakura moaned._

_“Shit woman, fuck,” Naruto panted attempting to keep his sanity as he fucked the sexy foxy vixen before him._

_Sakura was amused; she egged him on, feeling the pain dissipating as she begged harder for Naruto’s cock. It was like the more she demanded it, the better it felt. “That’s it, fuck me like the dirty cheating slut that I am,” Sakura moaned as Naruto slid in and out of her at an even tempo._

_“You’re not the only cheating slut here, ya know,” Naruto corrected as he gradually picked up the pace._

_“That’s right, you dirty slut, cheating on your wife and not giving a single fuck…no…fucking enjoying the fuck out of it,” Sakura moaned and panted as Naruto pounded into her. The position allowed Naruto to reach deep inside her just the way she liked it._

_He braced her hips hard enough to leave bruises as he shifted his angle to pound deep into her, making sure he hit her g-spot. “Fuck..mmmm,” she moaned as his cock hit its mark over and over again._

_Sakura’s legs burned with the effort to meet Naruto’s powerful thrusts. It was taking all her effort to hold herself up and not lose herself to the pleasure coursing through her. Having cum once already, the pleasure was less intense and all-consuming, but it was still mind blowing nonetheless. She worked hard to catch her breath between thrusts, needing the precious oxygen to keep her limbs working. Everything was going good until that sneaky asshole decided to trail one hand from her hips and start rubbing her clit. That’s when she saw stars and the pleasure became suddenly more intense as it coursed through her. It wasn’t until Naruto leaned over her and started getting her really deep that she started coming undone._

_Naruto noticed a strange mark on the back of her shoulder, it looked like someone had bit her, but he wasn’t sure. He growled at the mark, feeling a sudden surge of possessiveness come over him, he gently nipped, licked, and sucked at the mark, leaving a mark of his own on top of it. Once satisfied, he settled for licking and kissing her neck as he fucked her deeply and rubbed her clit._

_Sakura had tensed when she’d felt Naruto nipping at her scar, instinctively bracing herself for a bite, when it didn’t come, she’d relaxed being relieved Naruto was just leaving a hickey on her. With her sudden panic diffused, she instantly sunk back into the maddening white hot pleasure that was Naruto fucking her like a bitch in heat. His thick cock fucked her deeply, brushing against her g-spot relentlessly. She felt her entire body quiver in pleasure at the dual sensation of having her g-spot and her clit stimulated at the same time. The shaking intensified and she knew she wouldn’t be able to hang on much longer. Her moans came unbidden not having anything to muffle them in this position. Hopefully her daughter was a heavy sleeper._

_Naruto grunted and moaned as he fucked her and felt himself getting closer. The heat in his gut had coiled up painfully tight and his balls were drawn so tight they were about to retreat back into him. He forced himself to hold on just a bit longer._

_Sakura grunted and gasped as she felt the familiar white hot flame licking her insides. Her arms failed her and she fell forward with an, “oomph!” as her body spasmed out of control with the force of her second orgasm. The couch cushion sufficiently muffled her gasping moans as her body coated the cock inside her with her slippery wet juices._

_Naruto groaned when he felt her entire body stiffen and then quiver uncontrollably as her pussy clamped down on his cock and flooded with her cum. There was so much of it; it had started squirting past his cock and coating his crotch. When she fell forward, he struggled to keep himself inside her. He gave a few more powerful thrusts into her while she came and that was all he could do before the heat in his gut completely overtook him. He shoved his cock as far as it would go and then he let out a husky grunt as his body spasmed a bit with the force of his orgasm. His cock released his cum deep inside her pussy. There was so much of it; it started dribbling past his rapidly softening cock._

_Sakura whimpered as she felt the gush of warm fluid flow into her. She was so tired and boneless she couldn’t even bring herself to lift her head. She just twitched and whimpered into the couch cushion not really fully aware what was going on around her anymore or where she was. She felt Naruto pull out of her and then she scrunched up her eyes and nearly cried as she felt his tongue licking up and cleaning their cum from her pussy. It was way too much sensation, she felt like she was going to pass out. Her pathetic whimpers and moans were swallowed by the couch cushion._

_Naruto carefully cleaned up Sakura as best he could, not minding the taste of his own cum mixed with Sakura’s. It was actually a rather intense and intoxicating mix. He heard her whimpering knowing he was overwhelming her but not able to help himself as he wanted to lick up every last drop of cum. He drove his tongue inside her to clean up any remnants that may have been left. Somewhere between licking and fingering her spent pussy, Sakura had gone limp; Naruto realized she’d passed out, probably from being over stimulated. Naruto just chuckled to himself thinking it was cute and got up off the couch in search of a blanket or something._

_When his feet hit the floor, he nearly fell right over, not expecting his knees to be so weak from the earlier exertion. He managed to catch himself and slowly got the feeling back in his legs as he blindly felt around for a throw of some sort. He managed to find one sitting on a recliner of sorts; he gathered it up in his arms and made his way back over to the couch where Sakura was curled up, fast asleep. Naruto smirked to himself, admiring her sleeping form. He threw the blanket over her sleeping form and kissed her on her cheek. He went over to the light switch he’d managed to turn on when he’d first gotten inside the house. He flicked it off and then blindly made his way back to the couch. Not wanting to wake her, Naruto found the pile of clothes and put them back on in the pitch blackness. He decided since she was taking the couch, he could take a bedroom._

_He quietly made his way upstairs, using his memory of visiting her house several times in the past to successfully locate the guest bedroom. He opened the door and didn’t bother closing it all the way before he collapsed onto the bed, exhausted and ridiculously satiated. He fell asleep with a grin on his face, not really caring that he didn’t get a chance to cuddle or wake up with her in his arms. He’d finally gotten to fuck the girl he’d fantasized about since he was a teenager. That was more than enough for him. Of course this would make sex with his wife even less bearable than it already was, but he’d cross that bridge when he came to it._

_~_~_~_~_

_Sunlight streamed through the kitchen window as breakfast sizzled on the stove. Naruto stood in the kitchen, shirtless and making eggs. He’d woken up with the urge to puke and while he had managed to make it to the bathroom before spilling his guts, his shirt did not survive the ordeal, thusly it was currently not on him. He figured he could just borrow a shirt from Sasuke’s closet, not like the bastard would notice a single shirt missing._

_It was then that he heard movement upstairs and knew that Salad was awake. Despite his splitting headache, he’d still managed to make eggs like it was no big deal. His high pain tolerance was both a blessing and a curse sometimes._

_Salad gasped loudly when she saw her uncle in her kitchen having expected her mom to be making breakfast. “Why are you here, Uncle Naruto? Where’s mom?” she questioned accusingly._

_“Morning Salad!” Naruto greeted in a disturbingly chipper voice, “Your mom’s sleeping on the couch,” he informed while pointing towards the couch with his spatula._

_“Oh, okay, did you get drunk last night?” she asked, never one to beat around the bush._

_“Uh, heh, yeah, we did, that’s kinda why I’m here and not home. Couldn’t manage to get my drunk ass to my house, so I just crashed at this one cuz your mom let me,” Naruto half-lied._

_“Why is mom on the couch? Shouldn’t you be on the couch?”_

_“Well, she was more drunk than me and that’s as far as she got before she passed out.”_

_“Oh, okay, so you slept upstairs?”_

_“Yup.”_

_Salad seemed satisfied with that and left without another word. Naruto wondered what she was up to but shrugged it off as he plated the omelettes he’d been making. He set the plates down and decided to go check on Sakura. He found her stirring under the blanket he’d placed on her._

_“Morning sleepy head,” he cooed at her as she slowly woke up._

_“Mmm,” she mumbled as she pulled the blanket over her head._

_“Hey, come on, get up, I made breakfast,” Naruto pleaded._

_“Fuck, my head hurts, wait….why am I naked?! What the fuck happened last night?!” Sakura shrieked._

_“Oh, you don’t remember? Shit. Um, we’ll talk about that later, right now, you should probably put some clothes on._

_“God damn it, I’m so fucking sore, even my crotch hurts….oh god…don’t tell me,” Sakura bemoaned as she shakily got to her feet and started getting dressed. Naruto helped her get back into her clothes but she just curled back up onto the couch, put the blanket over her and started crying. “Oh my god, I wanna die, this can’t be happening. Fuck. I’m so fucking stupid, why did I go to that stupid bar? Why did things turn out this way? God damn it, Sasuke’s going to fucking murder me,” she whimpered and sobbed._

_Naruto did his best to try and comfort her, “Oh come on, it’s not that bad and for the record, you were fucking amazing.”_

_“Ugh! Don’t tell me shit like that! God damn it, Naruto,” Sakura groaned, not wanting to hear Naruto’s shit with the bad hangover she was currently suffering from._

_That’s when Salad came back into the living room with a bottle of pain pills in one hand and two glasses of water in her other. “Did you guys want some pills?” she offered._

_“Hell yeah, thanks Salad, you’re a lifesaver,” Naruto said as he graciously accepted the pills and water. Sakura also less enthusiastically accepted the pain medication. She felt so humiliated. Last night was a total blur; she only remembered bits and pieces from it. The guilt at what they’d done was threatening to swallow her up. She’d never felt like such a complete and total failure in her entire life. She thought everything would get easier and be simpler once she married Sasuke. Why did everything end up getting harder and even more complicated? She just wanted to crawl under a rock and forgot everything. She felt so useless and small. How could she have fallen victim to her own urges like that? She wanted so badly to just blame everything on Naruto or Sasuke, but she knew she was mostly at fault._

_Naruto broke Sakura from her self-imposed guilt trip as he innocently asked, “Hey, Sakura-chan, do you think I could borrow one of Sasuke’s shirts?”_

_“Huh? What happened to the one you were wearing?” she asked confused._

_“Oh that? Heh heh, I uh, I kinda puked all over it,” he said while he scratched the back of his head._

_“Ew! Gross!” Salad shrieked._

_“Heh, speaking of which, could you get a bucket for me, I don’t think I’ll make it to the bathroom,” Sakura said weakly as she felt her stomach starting to churn unpleasantly._

_Naruto yelped and grabbed a wastepaper basket while Salad ran out of the room, not wanting to deal with this crap this early in the morning._

_~_~_~_~_

_The three of them sat around the kitchen table awkwardly eating their breakfast. Naruto was wearing one of Sasuke’s high collar black shirts with the Uchiha crest on the back, Sakura had changed into a new work uniform, and Salad had on her regular school clothes. It seemed Salad was the only one actually eating her eggs. Sakura was just playing around with them on the plate and Naruto was just drinking his coffee, pretty much ignoring his plate all together. It’s hard to work up an appetite after what had just transpired in the living room. To put it mildly, Naruto didn’t make it in time. Salad was lucky she ran when she did or she’d be in the same state of appetite loss as her mom and uncle._

_Sakura’s head pounded, the pain pills weren’t an option anymore due to the incessant queasiness she felt. She just had to deal with the pain and hope it didn’t affect her performance at work. The three of them were dead silent, each lost in their own world of quiet musings. Naruto was wondering what the hell had possessed him to make such a stupid mistake like that, Sakura was fretting about what the hell she was going to do now, and Salad was just trying her best not to think about the mess in the living room by going over her studies in her head._

_When Salad had finished her breakfast, she quietly excused herself from the table and went upstairs to go get ready for school. After Salad left, an even more awkward and uncomfortable silence settled in over the two adults. It was almost painful having so much to say yet not being able to find the words to say it. After a while of staring off into nothing, Naruto finally collected himself and managed to mumble out, “Don’t tell Hinata,” in a hushed tone._

_“Huh?” Naruto’s near whisper had caught her off guard and she wasn’t sure she had heard him correctly. “You don’t have to tell me that, I’m not an idiot,” she huffed indignantly._

_“I..I didn’t say you were, I just…until we know how we’re going to handle this, we can’t let anyone else know,” Naruto explained in a very serious tone._

_“What happened to it not being that bad? Or you having the nerve to compliment me?” Sakura  bit back._

_Naruto sighed, “I just said that shit to try and cheer you up, I didn’t want to dump this on you until you were fully awake.”_

_“What about Sasuke?” Sakura said, an edge of terror creeping into her tone._

_“We’ll worry about that when we know he’s coming back, for now, let’s just take it one step at a time,” Naruto said in a calming and soothing tone. He didn’t want Sakura taking all the blame for herself like she tended to do when he was probably even more guilty than her. He was the one making perverted advances, he was the one to suggest they go back to Sakura’s place; he was the one who couldn’t resist having sex even though they were both too drunk to consent to sex._

_“Fine, I’ll just try not to have a panic attack at work. I guess it’s a good thing I don’t remember very much from last night. I’d probably be even more mortified than I am now,” Sakura replied before taking a sip of her water._

_“Heh, that’s for sure, you were crazy, like, you practically topped me,” Naruto recounted wistfully._

_Sakura spit out her water at Naruto’s crude comment, “You idiot! I didn’t need to know that!” She screeched before hitting him._

_“Ow, too bad Sasuke doesn’t know that getting you drunk is the secret to getting you to stop being a ‘boring fuck,’” Naruto retorted as he rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head._

_Sakura flushed completely, remembering enough bits from last night to know that Naruto was using her own words against her. “Fuck you, I can’t believe I told you that, damn it,” She cursed as she put a hand to her aching forehead. This was just too fucking much._

_It was then that the two adults noticed the ten year old standing in the kitchen gaping at them. “Oh shit, please tell me you didn’t hear any of that,” Naruto groaned._

_“Hear what? All I heard was Mum hitting you and then there was lots of shouting so I came down to make sure you two were okay. Sometimes it feels like I’m the only adult in this place,” Salad sighed to herself while shaking her head disapprovingly._

_“Well, you always were pretty mature for your age,” Sakura complimented._

_“That’s because I was forced to grow up quickly with Papa barely ever home and you working, I practically had to raise myself,” The ten year old huffed with her arms crossed over her chest._

_Sakura didn’t say anything to that and just looked down in shame realizing that on top of being a bad wife, she’d also been a bad mother. It was Naruto who spoke up and came to her rescue, “Hey, it’s not your mom’s fault, the village needs her skills and expertise, she’s the best medical ninja in the whole damn world. Show some respect.”_

_“Respect? Papa’s loaded, we could easily live off his inheritance for the rest of our lives. Mum doesn’t have to work, she’s just doing it because she wants to.”_

_“Excuse me?” Sakura scoffed, her temper flaring, “You actually want me to be cooped up in this house all day cooking, cleaning, and dusting like some sort of servant? Who do you think you are to tell me I don’t deserve to use my skills to help people and save lives just because you want some company?” Sakura was shouting by the end of her tirade._

_Salad burst into an angry flurry of tears, “I hate you!” She screamed as she turned and ran out the door. Sakura moved to follow her, but Naruto put a hand in front of her telling her to just let her go for now. Sakura sank into her seat in shock at what had just occurred. She never raised her voice to her own child like that, what had gotten into her? Where had that even come from? Maybe the stress really was getting to be too much for her and she was just lashing out at whoever pissed her off. Either way, there was no denying this was already shaping up to be the worst day of her life._

**\------------End Flashback----------**

Sakura awoke with a gasp in a cold sweat, only to find herself in a hospital bed, complete with gown, IV drip, and beeping machines. Sakura panted, trying to get her breathing back in order and recover from that horrible dream. Well, more like a repressed memory manifesting in her dreams, either way, it was awful and brought up a lot of things Sakura didn’t want to know or think about, especially with the turmoil she’d been facing since Sasuke’s return. The last thing she needed right now was a brutal reminder of her infidelity. It was then that a sudden thought struck her and she realized they hadn’t even used protection. It’d only been a month, it’s very possible she could be pregnant and not even know it. Most people found out they were pregnant when they’re 6 weeks along. Sakura’s hands flew to her stomach in a panicked flurry using her medical ninjutsu to search for any of the telltale signs of pregnancy. When she found none, she only relaxed slightly, she would still need a blood test to check her hormone levels and see for sure whether or not Naruto was going to be the father of a bastard child. It didn’t help that her period was already late.

Shizune come into the room to check on Sakura and was relieved to find her coworker and friend awake after the scare she’d given her when she suddenly passed out in her arms. “Sakura-san, thank goodness you’re alright, you had me worried,” she said with relief.

Sakura looked down in shame, upset at herself for making her friend worry like that. “I’m sorry, Shizune-san, I’ve just been under a lot of stress lately,” Sakura apologized.

“Sakura-san, this is serious, your levels are low, you passed out from anemia, you need to get some iron in your blood and you need to eat.”

“I’m not all that hungry Shizune-san,” Sakura mused in a daze.

“I don’t care if you are or aren’t, you need to get some real food into you, this IV is only temporary,” Shizune warned sternly.

“Wait a sec, you already tested my blood? Did you test my hormone levels by any chance?” Sakura asked seizing the opportunity.

“Hm? Oh yes, we did, your cholesterol and cortisol levels are bad, you need to take better care of yourself, you do know it’s possible to die from too much stress, right?”

Sakura sighed, “Yes, I know that, but what about my progesterone and estrogen levels? Were they elevated?”

Shizune went back to her chart carefully checking her test results, “Uh, no, they’re normal, you’re not pregnant; were you expecting to be? I know Sasuke just got back yesterday, but that seems a bit sudden for him to change his mind about having any more kids with you.”

“Huh? Oh, no, I just, well, he didn’t change his mind, per se, we just kind of, ya know,” Sakura said evasively, hoping Shizune would buy her lie and not ask the questions she was not ready to answer yet.

Shizune’s eyes lit up in recognition at what Sakura was suggesting. “Oh, I see, well then, I guess he’ll be happy to know that your unintentionally unprotected little rendezvous didn’t result in any heavy consequences.” Shizune phrased delicately.  

“Thanks, Shizune-san, I think I’m good enough to get back to work now,” Sakura said as she sat up and moved to remove her IV drip.

“No can do, you’re going home for the day, you’re in no condition to be in such a stressful work environment.” Sakura protested but Shizune shut her up, “Besides, look on the bright side, your husband’s back in town and now you get to spend more time with him,” Shizune said trying to cheer her up. If only she knew that being near Sasuke was the absolute last thing Sakura wanted to do at the moment. Sakura sighed to herself, knowing she wasn’t going to be able to convince her coworker to let her get back to work and also because sooner or later she was going to have to face her husband, knowing what she knows now.

The most mortifying and horrifying part about all of this is that despite everything, her body was practically burning for another night with Naruto. The dream had awakened something in her that refused to die and she knew no good could come of it.

~_~_~_~_~_~

Naruto lay back in his office chair with a deep sigh, his cum collecting in the strategically placed tissue. He’d closed and locked the door, telling Shikamaru he was taking care of some important business and to not let anyone in no matter what. This was his third ejaculation of the day, and no matter what he did, it still felt empty and unsatisfying. What the hell was going on? Sure, he’d been a bit worked up from Sasuke grilling his clone earlier about the specifics of that night, but damn, it’s like just thinking about it made all those wonderful and delicious memories flood back into his mind and cause his dick to get instantly rock hard. It was absolutely mortifying when his clone unexpectedly dispersed and he was flooded with its memories and the things it was thinking about while being questioned by Sasuke, right in the middle of an important meeting. His tent sprang up of its own free will and refused to go down. He had to put his Hokage hat over his crotch just to hide it and he didn’t dare get up until after everyone had left. Holy shit, he was going to fucking murder Sasuke, that bastard, making his clone think about erotic and dirty things like that. Of course, he knew that wasn’t entirely Sasuke’s fault, but still, it’s his fault it happened with such inconvenient timing. If the bastard had just waited 10 or so minutes, he would have had the real Naruto all to himself. Wait, not in a gay way, just in an interrogative way.

As much as he tried, Naruto could not get Sakura out of his head. He couldn’t stop imagining her soft supple skin, the way she sounded when she moaned, the way she quivered when she came, the cute sounds she made, and just everything about her was perfection to him. He didn’t even feel the least bit guilty that he hadn’t had sex with his wife since before that night. He’d used work as an excuse to dodge sex, even going so far as keeping a futon in his office so he could spend the night there instead of at home. He had no idea how he was ever going to be able to go back to having sex with his wife after having tasted the forbidden fruit. It was like nothing else could even begin to compare. One taste, and he was hooked for good.

He wanted it so bad, he positively ached for her. He needed her. Only she could make him cum and feel fully satisfied. He was half-considering making up another excuse to summon her to his office and then locking the door, getting drunk, and letting nature take its course. When had he become such a selfish, needy, manipulative, and controlling asshole? Why couldn’t he bring himself to feel even the slightest tinge of remorse for even thinking about betraying his wife and best friend like that? Why did his cock refuse to go soft? He was pretty sure if he kept on beating it like this; he wasn’t going to have much of a dick left. What the hell was wrong with him?  

~_~_~_~_~

After a successful training session, Salad and Sasuke found themselves back at the house making a post-training snack together. “Now make sure you put lots of protein in there, don’t make it all carbs, I know carbs are good for chakra recovery, but you need protein to help build up your muscles,” Sasuke directed as he cut up some vegetables.

Salad just rolled her eyes at her father, “I know, I know, I was just getting to that,” Salad huffed annoyed at being told things she already knew.

Sasuke let her attitude slide, too busy being damn proud at what his daughter had accomplished. It turned out Salad was a phenomenally fast learner. She had obviously inherited her mother’s precise chakra control and thus picking up things like elemental manipulation and shape manipulation were a breeze for her. It also helped that she had a lightning affinity just like him. While she wasn’t capable of producing a full Chidori, yet, she did have the basics of the jutsu pretty much down, and her mini version of the jutsu was only lacking in chakra which could easily be remedied with proper training.

Sasuke didn’t feel the least bit worried about teaching his daughter a potentially dangerous jutsu. Without the Sharingan, the jutsu was pretty much useless. He’d mainly just used it as an excuse to spend some quality time with her. He sincerely hoped his daughter would never be in the position to activate her Sharingan, assuming she even possessed the necessary special chakra in the first place. That kind of pain and suffering is not something he’d ever wish on anyone, let alone his own flesh and blood.

Just as they were assembling their snacks, they were surprised to hear the front door opening. They both left the kitchen to go see what was going on.

“Sakura, you’re home, early. Did something happen?” Sasuke questioned suspiciously.

“Nothing happened, I was just sent home early, that’s all,” Sakura evaded. Sasuke could see right through her, she didn’t even bother making eye contact.

“Don’t lie to me, Sakura,” he warned sternly, “You look like shit and something is clearly bothering you.”

“Fine, I collapsed so they sent me home, happy?” Sakura reluctantly informed.

“No, far from it, actually. You didn’t get any sleep last night, you didn’t eat anything this morning, clearly there must be a reason for you neglecting your well-being like this. You flat out fainted at work and you don’t seem to be even the least bit bothered by that. This isn’t like you, at all. I understand there are things you don’t feel comfortable discussing with me and I respect that, but I can’t just sit by and watch you self-destruct like this,” Sasuke couldn’t keep the hurt and worry out of his tone. It bubbled up in his throat and constricted his chest.

“…Sasuke…I…I’m sorry, I just. I just need some air,” Sakura mumbled as she made her way past both Uchihas and out to the garden out back. Sasuke just let her walk by, feeling completely helpless and useless. He didn’t know it was possible to be so close in proximity to his wife, yet feel like she was a million miles away from him. Sasuke was usually the obstinate one that didn’t let anyone in and pushed people away almost instinctively. He didn’t know how to handle someone doing it to him. He had a newfound respect for Naruto’s refusal to give up on him and for Naruto’s ability to slip past his walls. Right now, he’d give his right arm for a chance at getting past Sakura’s walls. Seeing her like that was killing him.

Salad being oblivious to her father’s inner turmoil, decided to leave his side, forsake their snacks, and head over to where her mother had ended up. Maybe if she showed her mom what she could do, it would help cheer her up.

Sasuke went to the living room and flopped onto the couch. Unbeknownst to him, it was same couch Naruto and Sakura had committed their shameless act upon. He lay across it in contemplation. There had to be something he could do. It was then that he’d remembered his earlier determination to find out exactly who had spent the night on this couch that fateful night. It was then that an idea struck him and he called out to Salad, hoping she would hear him from the backyard.

Salad had just caught up with her mother and was about to tell her the good news when she heard her father calling her. She’d opted to ignore it but Sakura told her to go to him, she can show her whatever it is she wanted to show her later.

“But, what about you?”

“I’ll be fine, the flowers help,” Sakura said as she admired the beautiful garden she and her daughter had planted together. It had been such a fun and peaceful afternoon. Ino had provided the potted flowers letting them know exactly where they should plant them so that the perennials stayed together and so certain colors would coordinate. They’d also planted vegetables like tomatoes and squash. It was such an elaborate and beautiful set up, even Sasuke had been impressed by it when they’d showed him the final product and he doesn’t impress easy. Although, that could have just been because there were tomatoes present and they were kind of Sasuke’s thing. Either way, Sakura got her beautiful backyard retreat and Sasuke got garden fresh vegetables. It was win-win.

This retreat had been such a magical and wonderful place, but now it only served as a cruel reminder of happier times. Salad was so happy back then; she was always smiling and just enjoying life. Where had that innocent child gone? Why did she only seem to come out anymore around Sasuke? She couldn’t help feeling like she’d failed both of them and that she didn’t deserve either of them. She should just come clean, and accept her punishment. It was starting to look more worthwhile than the excruciating torture of holding back the truth and watching it hurt those she loved.        

“What is it, Papa? I was just about to show Mum my new jutsu,” Salad questioned upon entering the living room.

“It won’t take long, I just need you to tell me one more thing about the night that Uncle Naruto slept over,” Sasuke replied tiredly.

“Okay, what is it?” Salad asked curiously, still not sure why her father was making such a big deal about one little sleep over.

“While your Uncle was shirtless and making eggs, where was your Mother?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, she was curled up on the couch with a nasty hangover. I offered her some pills but she puked all over the living room so they weren’t much use,” Salad recounted astutely wanting to help her father out anyway she could.

Sasuke’s fist clenched at Salad’s response. Naruto had lied to him. Naruto had looked him dead in the eye and lied to his face. Words couldn’t begin to describe the hurt Sasuke felt at being betrayed by the one person in the world he trusted more than anything. As he thought more about it, the pieces started to come together and things started to make more and more sense. Of course, that’s why Sakura was in such bad shape, she’s hiding the fact that she got drunk and fucked Naruto, she’s probably too scared to tell him because she’s afraid he’ll flip out on her and probably leave her. She’s probably also afraid of what he would do to Naruto. It was strange, the immense relief at finding out exactly what was wrong with his wife seemed to almost override the tremendous hurt he felt at being lied to and kept in the dark by both of them. Almost. It’s like he’d been freed of one burden, only to be saddled with another, much heavier, burden. Sasuke dismissed Salad, realizing he needed a lot more time to process this and also he needed them to admit it to his face before he could take action. There was still the possibility that he was misreading things, but it was hard to fathom why else Naruto would lie to him.

Unfortunately, he didn’t get very much time to think before his wife was furiously summoning him to the kitchen. _What the hell does she want now?_ Sasuke thought to himself as he got up off the couch where he now suspected something dirty had happened and made his way over to the kitchen. His daughter looked at him from the door to the backyard with confused and sad eyes. She obviously had no idea why her mom was so upset and probably felt like she’d done something wrong. _Oh great._

“What the **hell** were you thinking?!” Sakura screamed at him. It seemed almost ironic that that’s one of the things Sasuke wanted to know from her as well.

“What are you talking about?” Sasuke asked, baffled and confused.

“You know what I’m talking about! How could you teach your daughter such a dangerous and potentially deadly jutsu?! She’s too young to be learning things like that! What if she killed one of her classmates with it?!” Sakura yelled clearly in full blown over reaction mode.

“What are you talking about? The jutsu is incomplete and useless without the Sharingan. I just wanted to see if she was capable of learning it. Besides, I was much younger than Salad when my father taught me the fireball jutsu. I don’t see what’s wrong with wanting your kids to be strong and passing your techniques off to them. I thought that was the whole point of having children, to pass on our legacy to them,” Sasuke retorted calmly despite Sakura’s unhinged demeanor.

“Are you kidding me? We’re not in war times, anymore, Sasuke, we don’t need our kids to be stronger than us.”

“It’s a tenuous peace that could break at any moment, Naruto works so much because he’s struggling to maintain the current peace’s integrity even though it may just be slipping through his fingers.”

“So what? That doesn’t mean it’s okay to start turning our children into weapons, they should have the chance at a normal and happy life.”

“If you didn’t want our kid to be a weapon, then why were you okay with sending her to ninja school to learn how to become a child soldier? If you wanted her to have a ‘normal and happy life’, you should have just sent her to the same school as civilians.”

“I…she wanted to go, what was I supposed to tell her? Besides, we graduated the academy; it wouldn’t be fair if we didn’t let her do the same.”

“Exactly, she wanted this, just like how she wanted me to teach her that jutsu.”

“Kids don’t always know what’s good for them. Maybe it’s because you and Naruto nearly killed each other with those jutsus that I’m so bothered by it. I mean, you lost a damn arm to that jutsu, what am I supposed to think?”    

“You’re supposed to trust that your kid will be able to use it responsibly. Are you saying you don’t trust our daughter?”

“It’s you, I don’t trust,” Sakura blurted out unintentionally.

“Come again?” Sasuke asked utterly confused.

“You’re gone for months on end and you barely even write, what the hell am I supposed to think you’re doing while you’re on one of your ‘journeys of discovery?’ Sakura questioned accusingly, unintentionally unleashing all the uncertainty and doubt she’d been keeping hidden away until now.

“Sakura, what has gotten into you? You and Naruto accepted my reasoning for leaving you and you both told me you were fine with it. Why are you holding that against me, now? Why have you stopped trusting me?” Sasuke asked, concerned, annoyed, and hurt.

“It’s not the same, it’s not like it used to be. You’re gone for much longer, you don’t know what it’s like when you’re not here, all the suffering I have to endure. My own daughter hates me. I’m all alone without you.”

“Salad doesn’t hate you, what are you talking about? You have friends and family, there’s no reason for you to feel alone while I’m gone.”

“Well, I do, because none of them compare to you.”

“What about Naruto?”

That’s when Sakura’s eyes got wide and Sasuke caught it. The guilt, the self-shaming, the self-hatred, and love for him, it was all there in Sakura’s eyes at the very mention of his name. A wave of jealousy overtook him and he could barely even see straight.

Sakura saw the flash of anger flare up in Sasuke’s eyes. It terrified her, she hadn’t seen Sasuke this pissed in a very long time.

“You don’t trust me, yet you have no problem trusting HIM!”

Sakura tears started to form in the corners of Sakura’s eyes at Sasuke’s extremely harsh and accusing tone. “Sasuke, please, I do trust you, I love you!” Sakura pleaded.

Sasuke ignored her, “Could it be that you don’t trust me because you’ve lost trust in yourself? That you’ve broken your vows and now your guilty conscious is eating you alive?”  

At the point where normally Sakura would run, instead, she stayed. A decision she will forever live to regret. She didn’t appreciate all the shit Sasuke was throwing in her face, even though it was true, it still hurt. “Oh fuck you, if you cared so much about me, you should have been here, more. You shouldn’t have left me alone like that! You were practically begging me to cheat!”

“So you fucking finally admit it! You’ve been sleeping with Naruto this whole fucking time!” Sasuke screamed at her.

“IT WAS ONLY **ONE** TIME! FUCK YOU! FOR ALL I KNOW YOU’RE PROBABLY OFF SOMEWHERE SCREWING THAT RED-HEADED **WHORE** OF YOURS!” Sakura screamed back at him at the top of her lungs.

An uncontrollable rage overtook Sasuke at the very mention of his former teammate and before Sakura had even finished getting the words out of her mouth, Sasuke punched her and sent her tumbling into the kitchen counter. “Don’t you fucking DARE call Karin a whore you fucking bitch!” Sasuke screamed back, but when he saw the aftermath of what he’d done, all the anger, frustration, and hurt melted away to pure and utter horror. Sakura had tears in her eyes and blood streaming from her mouth. He knew he’d broken her jaw, but that’s not what broke him, what broke him was the look in her eyes, like he was a monster about to kill her. When he hesitated, Sakura made a run for it, doing what she should have done earlier.

Sasuke let her go, he was too much in shock and angry with himself to even move to stop her. He couldn’t believe he’d lost control like that. He could have killed her. He slumped to the floor unable to hold himself up anymore and stared at his hand in shock and despair.

“What have I done?”

He was completely oblivious to the frightened ten year old girl cowering behind the door and crying her eyes out. She’d seen the crazed look in her father’s eyes as he struck her mother. She’d never been so scared in her entire life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, I feel you Salad, I'm scared, too. I can't believe I just made Sasuke do that.


	4. Fallout (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura got everything she wanted in the end....or did she?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, last chapter was scary, Sasuke surprised me with that. He really wasn’t supposed to hurt Sakura that bad. Anyways, this chapter will be broken into two parts. Part 1 will be written from Sasuke’s perspective and part 2 will be written from Sakura’s. I want to show the different ways in which each of them deals with this.
> 
> Thank you so much for all your reviews and feedback. I’m so glad there are actually people who like this fic despite how fucked up it is. XD I remember some of you were even looking forward to this fic when I mentioned I was writing it on my blog. I hope I was able to live up to my own hype. :3
> 
> Extra Warning for This Chapter: Excessive Cursing; Contains depictions of explicit, hardcore, and slightly violent smut; biting fetish; blood play; bondage. If that’s not you’re thing, I’ll mark off where it starts and where it ends so you can skip it.

Sasuke was still in disbelief and shock. How could this have happened? He’d promised himself that he would _never_ harm her ever again, and yet here he was with literal blood on his hand coating his knuckles with his shame. Why had mentioning Karin affected him so much? Why had he practically blacked out with rage? He didn’t like it. He didn’t like the kind of person he was becoming or the direction this relationship was going in. He could see where this was leading. If Sakura forgave him and gave him another chance, there’s no guarantee he wouldn’t hurt her again. Once you’ve crossed that line, there’s no going back; Sasuke wasn’t going to keep shifting that goal post. He wasn’t going to be able to forgive himself, no matter how badly Sakura may try to forgive him. He honestly hoped she didn’t, it’d actually make it easier on him.

Nothing was going to change the fact that Sasuke had become the kind of husband who hits his wife, just like how nothing was going to change the fact that Sakura had become the kind of wife that gets drunk and cheats. Sasuke knew what he had to do, and he didn’t like it one bit. It killed him inside but it was the only way to guarantee Sakura and Salad’s safety: he needed to disappear from their lives for good.

It was then that Sasuke heard sobbing and whimpering coming from the backyard. His heart sank even further. He’d forgotten Salad was there. She’d probably seen the whole thing and then ran off scared. How could he even face her after hitting her mom like that right in front of her? What kind of monster had he become? Even his own daughter was probably terrified of him. Either way, he at least had to say goodbye. Salad was one of the few good things in his life and one of his proudest accomplishments. Words could not describe how badly it pained him at the very thought of cutting himself entirely out of her life. He off-handedly wondered if him leaving would even trigger her Sharingan. Hopefully it didn’t, hopefully she didn’t have the capacity for obtaining it.

He didn’t want her to hate him, he didn’t want her to blame him for tearing their family apart, he didn’t want to impose this kind of pain onto her, but sacrifices had to be made. He had to protect his family from any danger, even if that danger turned out to be himself. Uchihas love very deeply and when anyone hurts their loved ones, they feel a boundless hatred towards them. This was no different, only the boundless hatred was being directed inward. Sasuke will never be able to forgive himself for hurting the people he cared about, he was never going to be able to get over this self-loathing he now felt. He hated himself, he was disgusted with himself. He didn’t want to be in his own skin anymore.

His emotions were a swirling mess, he didn’t know if he should scream angry curses at himself or break down and cry. He wanted to do both and neither at the same time. He slowly got up off the floor and walked over to the kitchen sink where he rinsed off the blood. A single tear mixed with the pinkened water as it swirled down the drain. He took the soap and scrubber and started scraping at his hand trying to get the blood off. He kept rubbing, kept cleaning, but no matter how hard he scraped, or how reddened the skin became, it still felt dirty to him. He could still feel it. He could still feel her face connecting with his fist, he could still hear the sound of bones cracking, he could still see the blood, he could still hear her screaming in pain, and he could still see those terrified eyes. They bore into his soul and haunted him every time he closed his eyes.  

Sasuke screamed out in anguish and his knees buckled as he once again slumped to the floor. The water kept running as he leaned against the cabinets with his head in his hands and cried. It hurt. He felt like such a failure, as a man, as a husband, and as a father. He was supposed to be an honorable man, but there’s no honor in hitting your wife. Even though she was a medic and could probably heal the damage fairly easily, that didn’t erase the emotional scars left behind. That didn’t mend the shattered bond between them and that didn’t save their failed marriage. He cried harder, the tears just wouldn’t stop. It was happening again, he was losing his family all over again and there was nothing he could do about it.

“Daddy?” Sasuke’s head popped up at the shaky tone. Salad was standing there in the kitchen with tear streaks down her cheeks and glasses covered in teary speckles. She was shaking, the fear was evident in her eyes. She obviously wasn’t sure if the broken man before her was the man whom she called “Papa” or the man who struck her mother. Even so, seeing her father so broken and hurting was making her hurt just as badly.

Seeing her hesitate in fear brought a fresh pang of hurt and guilt to his already aching heart. This is the one time in his life he needed her to not turn her back on him. He needed to know he was still human. He got on his knees and out stretched his arms, beckoning her over. He knew full well if she refused this invitation, it would absolutely shatter him. She was now the only person he could trust in this village. Despite her trepidation, Salad accepted Sasuke’s offer and barreled into him, wrapping her arms tightly around him and crying into his chest. Sasuke squeezed her tightly as fresh tears streamed down his face.

He was such an emotional mess, he didn’t know how he was going to be able to speak or how he was going to tell her what he needed to tell her. He thanked his lucky stars she didn’t just run away from him in terror. He needed this kind of comfort more than he knew. He took a deep breath and tried to steady his voice. If he didn’t get the words out the first time, he was afraid he never would.

“Salad, honey…you know I love you, right?” Sasuke asked shakily.

Salad wiped her tears before responding, “*sob* Yeah…I know that…*sob*…Daddy. I love you…*sob*…too.”

“You know that…that I’d never hurt you, right?”

Salad just nodded her head unable to respond verbally.

“I…I have to go,” Sasuke whimpered brokenly.

“What? But you just got here,” Salad mumbled confused.

“I know…I…I can’t stay here…anymore.”

“Oh, so you’re leaving again,” Salad said dejectedly hanging her head.

“Yeah…I have to leave.”

Salad looked up at him with sad eyes, “When will you be back?”

It took every ounce of Sasuke’s willpower not to break down at that question, “I…uh…I won’t.”

“What?”

“I’m not…coming back…I’m sorry,” Sasuke said, ripping his gaze from his child’s sad eyes.

“No…no…NO! You can’t! You can’t just leave us! You’re barely home as is! The only reason I can even _stand_ Mum is because I look forward to you coming back!” Salad yelled desperately.

“Salad…” Sasuke uttered helplessly.

“No! So what you lost your temper, it only happened once, I’m sure Mum will forgive you, we can still be a family, you don’t have to leave!” Salad yelled as she clung desperately to her father.

“I’m so sorry,” Sasuke said as he reluctantly peeled his daughter off of him and got up to leave.

“What about your stuff? You’re just gonna leave it here?!” Salad yelled after him as he started to walk away.

“Either burn it or give it to Naruto, apparently him and me are around the same size,” Sasuke replied bitterly.

“NO!” Salad screamed as she ran up and clung to Sasuke’s leg. “You’re not leaving! I won’t let you!” she desperately sobbed into his pants.

The look in his daughter’s eyes absolutely crushed him. With a heavy heart and a guilty conscience, he activated the Sharingan in his right eye and as tears streamed down his face he whispered, “Goodbye,” and knocked his daughter unconscious with a genjutsu.

When her body went limp, he picked her up and gently placed her on the couch in the living room. He grabbed a blanket and put it over her. Then, he gently laid a kiss upon her forehead. He took a few shaky breaths before forcing his feet to carry him to the door. His legs were heavy, the pain was excruciating and it was only going to get worse.

Breaking from Salad was hard enough, but now he was going to have to face both Naruto’s wrath and Sakura’s desperate attempts to convince him to stay. It was like their genin days all over again, only this time, Naruto was probably going to kick him out of the village instead of trying to drag him back to it. Sasuke closed and locked the door behind him and wiped his tears before setting off to the Hokage tower.

~_~_~_~_~

“YOU SON OF A BITCH! I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!” Naruto screamed as he launched himself at Sasuke. He caught him by the throat and slammed him against the wall. Sasuke pulled at Naruto’s arms as Naruto angrily choked the life from him. He almost wished he wouldn’t let go. Maybe the world would be better off without him. Just as that disturbing thought had crossed his mind, an image of Karin flashed through his mind and instantly he threw Naruto off of him with a Chidori Nagashi.

Sasuke coughed and sputtered as oxygen returned to his lungs. “I’m not mad that you did that, I probably deserve worse.”

“You’d be fucking dead already if I didn’t need you alive to sign these papers,” Naruto fumed, “How fucking dare you. How could you hurt Sakura-chan like that?! She’s your fucking wife for fuck’s sake!”

“I take it she was here?” Sasuke asked matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, me and Ino helped heal her. You broke her jaw you sicko. Not only should you never hit a woman, but you should never use full force, even if you’re lashing out angrily. If you’d not made a fist and just left your palm open, it would have just been a slap. Still bad, but not bone-shattering.”

“I lost control, my body just moved on its own,” Sasuke admitted pathetically.

“Don’t you dare even say that to me. That’s supposed to happen when you move to _protect_ someone not _injure_ them,” Naruto stated angrily. The defense Sasuke had used for saving his life countless times, was now being used to excuse violence against the woman he loved. Fuck Sasuke straight to hell.

“Is…is Sakura okay?” Sasuke asked concerned for his wife’s well-being after having unintentionally put her through such an awful experience.

“Physically, she’s fine, but mentally and emotionally, I don’t know,” Naruto grumbled out angrily.

“What exactly does that mean?” Sasuke asked confused.

“It means that Kurama’s healing power completely healed her injuries. That shouldn’t be surprising given this is the same power that instantly healed me after you’d smashed through my ribcage and punctured one of my lungs,” Naruto said whilst pegging Sasuke with an angry glare.

“I don’t mean that, I thought Katsuya would be able to take care of it.”

“Sakura-chan didn’t want to summon Katsuya because she was afraid that if Katsuya saw her like that, she’d come after you and try to murder you,” Naruto explained.

Sasuke’s eyes dropped to the floor in guilt and shame at both being reminded of how his younger self had tried to kill Naruto and how Sakura’s summoned beast would have reacted to Sakura’s injuries. He couldn’t blame Katsuya, a part of him even wished she’d go through with it. Being melted alive in excruciating agony seemed tame compared to what he wanted to do to himself. He was relieved Naruto’s healing prowess was just as instant and miraculous as Karin’s. It meant there’d be no lasting physical scars. However, his heart sank and his chest burned knowing that this was probably only going to make her deteriorating condition even worse. Nothing’s worse than being betrayed and hurt by a loved one, no one knew that better than him. He paid the ultimate price for Itachi’s mistakes and now he was doing it again through a combination of both his own mistakes and the mistakes of those he cared about.

“Where is she?”

“Go fuck yourself,” Naruto bit out in disgust.

“So she’s with Ino?”

Naruto didn’t answer him and changed the subject by roughly slamming some papers onto his desk, “Here, before I change my mind about letting you live, sign these,” Naruto said pointing to the forms on his desk.

“What are these?” Sasuke asked as he picked up and started reading the various forms.

“Don’t read them, just sign them and get the fuck out,” Naruto grumbled out angrily.

“I don’t sign things before reading them. That’s stupid,” Sasuke protested.

Naruto just rolled his eyes, “Fine, if you must know, obviously one of them is to end your marriage, I haven’t gotten Sakura to sign it yet, but I figure if I got your signature, it’d make her more likely to add hers. Still can’t believe she still wants to give you a chance. I gave you all the chances in the world and you blew every single one. I thought maybe this time it’d be different, but I was wrong.” Sasuke shot Naruto a glare for that comment, before returning to reading. “One of them is a restraining order, meaning you can’t be within 10 feet of your wife without me throwing your ass in jail,” Naruto continued explaining.

“Oh? A restraining order? You honestly think I’m going to risk hurting her again?” Sasuke asked incredulously. “You don’t have to order me to do something I was going to do anyway,” Sasuke remarked insulted, but not exactly surprised at Naruto’s lack of trust.

“Well, I can’t just throw you in jail because I feel like it. At least with this, I can punish you just for going near her.”

“Great, glad I could give you some piece of mind,” Sasuke drawled sarcastically as he signed the dubious paper fully intending to ignore it so he could get a chance to say his goodbyes. No one was going to keep him from at least talking to Sakura one more time. He didn’t want that horrible moment to be the last time they ever saw each other again.

“What’s next? Are you going to revoke my ninja status, too?”

Naruto shook his head, “No, despite everything, you’re still a valued informant. As much as I would prefer you to not be breathing, your information has saved our asses more than once and even lead to preventing a war. I may be an idiot sometimes, but even I’m not dumb enough to let an important asset like you, go,” Naruto admitted reluctantly.

“Besides,” he added cheekily, “If you _did_ become a missing-nin again, I’d most certainly have to kill you. I can’t show leniency when I’ve got multiple nations breathing down my neck. Me letting you live could literally set off another war, and I’m trying desperately to prevent that,” Naruto explained in a deadly serious tone.

“Sooo, you’re not kicking me out of the village?” Sasuke asked confused at Naruto’s leniency. He’d expected to be exiled at the very least; killed at the worst.

Naruto sighed in frustration, “No, you’re still going to continue reporting to me, just, no interacting with the rest of the village. Use a henge or something to disguise yourself.”

“You know that won’t fool anyone who’s familiar with my chakra, nor will it fool anyone who detects by scent,” Sasuke reminded.

“I know that, but if anyone who’s not me tries to talk to you, just blow them off like you normally would. You’re good at that.”

“Even if it’s Sakura?”

“Especially if it’s Sakura,” Naruto asserted forcefully.

“And my daughter?” Sasuke asked hopefully, “What do I do if she recognizes me?”

Naruto looked away sadly; he understood full well how much Salad meant to Sasuke, his own kids meant the world to him. “Just, don’t tell me about it. I’m willing to turn a blind eye to you and Salad….hell, you can even spend time with Bolt if you want, but don’t go anywhere near your ex or so help me…”

“I know, I got it,” Sasuke interrupted, immensely grateful at being given the chance to spend more precious moments with his daughter. However, he couldn’t help the pang he felt at Naruto referring to Sakura as his ex. He’d gotten so used to Sakura being his wife; it seemed foreign and strange to refer to her as anything other than that. Perhaps it was finally starting to hit him that this really was happening. He was really ending things. It still didn’t seem real. Sure things had been bad between them, lately, but he figured they’d work through it eventually. He never realized just how distant they’d become or what kind of people they were turning each other into until it was too late. This wasn’t an isolated incident; it was a wakeup call. It was a culmination of all the negativity that had pervaded their relationship for the past couple years.

“There, your precious Sakura is safe, from her unstable and overly emotional ex-husband,” Sasuke drawled sarcastically as he threw the completed forms into Naruto’s face. “Can I go now?”

Naruto snatched up the forms with a frustrated sigh, “Calm down Sasuke, no, there’s one more thing I need you to sign for me.”

“What the hell else could you possibly want from me? You want to take custody of my kid or something?” Sasuke growled in frustration.    

Naruto shook his head, “No, just this,” he said, handing him another dubious piece of paper.

Sasuke snatched it out of Naruto’s hand annoyed at all this sudden bureaucracy. He read the paper and then frowned deeply. “No, I can’t sign this, that’s supposed to go to Sakura and Salad.”

“They don’t want your money.”

“Fine, but, do I _have_ to sign it over to Konoha? Do you have any idea how fucking insulting that is to be told to give up your rightful inheritance to the very people who murdered your clan in the first place?” Sasuke questioned in outrage.

Naruto just shrugged, “Honestly, we’re pretty desperate for some funds and this would help tremendously towards my efforts to actually fix this broken system. I understand full well not wanting to hand over the last connection you had to your clan, I get that, but I assure you, I will use it to revolutionize and completely change the system that victimized you and your entire clan,” Naruto leveled sincerely.

“The whole reason you haven’t made headway in that respect is because the current peace is flimsy and it takes all your efforts just to keep it going,” Sasuke retorted bitterly.

“That’s not true, you’re just saying that because you’ve witnessed isolated unrest in the outside world. I assure you, this peace is working, this time it’s going to last,” Naruto said assertively.

“Either you’re full of shit or you’re in complete denial because the things I’ve seen on my travels are not ‘isolated’ as you put it. You specifically wanted me to keep tabs on Otogakure because you were worried about them gaining influence after the war. You wouldn’t fear secondary villages so much if you really did have that much confidence in your so-called ‘lasting peace,’” Sasuke bit out angrily.

“What are you talking about?” Naruto said, dread crept into his tone as he suspected there was something Sasuke wasn’t telling him that he really needed to know.

“That’s right, I was so caught up in accusing you of fucking my wife, which by the way, she did confess to, so yeah, thanks for lying to my face you dick; that I completely forgot to actually give you my report, so I’ll give it to you now,” Sasuke said in his usual condescending and pissed off tone.

“She fucking told you?! What the fuck?! I agonized so fucking hard for her over that shit and then she just blabs to you anyway?” Naruto yelled in shock and disbelief.

“In her defense, I’d already figured it out on my own. My daughter told me things that didn’t match up with your story and I just put two and two together from there,” Sasuke boasted.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Naruto questioned defensively.

“It means that after I’d confirmed that you were lying, it was the only thing I could think of that would ever motivate you to lie to me, because if it really was as innocent as you said it was, you wouldn’t have lied about it in the first place,” Sasuke explained calmly.

“Well, shit, that actually does make sense. Either way, give me that report of yours, and finish signing those papers so you can get the fuck out of my face,” Naruto calmly commanded.

“What? I don’t even get an apology for you betraying me like that?”

“For what? I have nothing to apologize for. People get drunk and accidentally screw each other all the damn time,” Naruto crossed his arms defensively.

“If it was no big deal then why the fuck did you hide it from me and lie about it then?” Sasuke questioned disbelievingly.

“Because Sakura-chan begged me not to tell you, okay? She was afraid you’d freak out and murder me or something,” Naruto defended.

“She’s not entirely wrong in that respect. However, I probably would have been a lot less pissed off if you’d just been upfront about it from the start. I’ve been to bars across the world, I know how people get when they’re drunk,” Sasuke countered.

“So you do drink?” Naruto questioned accusingly.

“No you moron, I’d just order water. Bars and taverns just happened to be a really good place for getting information out of people since people became a lot more talkative when they were inebriated,” Sasuke explained in an exasperated tone.

“Never mind that, get back to this report you’re supposed to be making,” Naruto ordered annoyed.

“Fine, this report is unconfirmed, but there are rumors that Otogakure and Amegakure have formed an alliance. There’s talk of them sharing information, technology, and military power. Some think they’re building an army, but no one seems to have a clue what the army’s even supposed to be for or if this is all just hearsay,” Sasuke said as he calmly gave his report.

“Heh, if Oto thinks they can take out the five nations, they’re gonna need a lot more than just the support of a secondary village,” Naruto boasted.

“There’s talk that Oto might conquer all of the secondary villages and use their influence to secretly invade and conquer each nation from the inside out,” Sasuke warned.

“That’s quite the foreboding rumor, however, it’s nothing more than just that: a rumor. Besides, if Orochimaru wants to conquer us that badly, let him, we can take him. I’ll protect this village with my very life if I have to,” Naruto proclaimed determinedly.

“That’s what a Kage should do, just don’t end up like the third,” Sasuke warned.

“Pssh, I won’t, if I can help take down a fucking goddess, I’m pretty sure I can handle some creepy snake guy,” Naruto retorted cheekily.

“Don’t underestimate Orochimaru,” Sasuke warned darkly, “You have no idea what he’s capable of.”

“Oh, and you do? If I remember correctly, you were the one who took him down and I’m pretty much equal to you in power so I like my odds,” Naruto stated confidently.

“Whatever, it’s your funeral idiot,” Sasuke muttered as he finished going over the papers in his hand. He looked up and shot a glare at Naruto, “I’m not signing this; I’m even more against signing it now than I was before I read it. This is just bullshit,” Sasuke said slamming the unsigned paper back onto Naruto’s desk.

“Hey! I told you I was going to use the money to fix things!” Naruto whined.

“It’s not something you can fix just by throwing money at it, you idiot,” Sasuke retorted, “Even if you change the system, you still have to deal with people’s tendency towards hatred. You have to find a way to change everyone’s hearts so that they tend towards understanding each other instead of hating each other.”

“I know that,” Naruto pouted.

Sasuke sighed to himself, “Quit pouting, you’re a grown-ass adult, start acting like one.”

“Not until you agree to invest in my idea,” Naruto refused stubbornly.

Sasuke just rolled his eyes at Naruto not having the patience for their useless banter, “No, go fuck yourself, I’ve got more important things to do,” Sasuke said as he turned to leave.

“Fuck you, too, asshole. What? You gotta go fuck your mistress or some shit? Can’t handle the stress of breaking up with Sakura-chan all on your own?” Naruto taunted at Sasuke’s retreating back. Sasuke didn’t respond verbally, he just angrily flipped off Naruto before slamming the door behind him. Naruto muttered an ‘asshole’ under his breath before getting back to work hoping that that was the last of the day’s distractions.

~_~_~_~

Sasuke didn’t know why he was bothering with this. He knew this was going to hurt more than it was worth. A part of him just wanted to flee the village and forget any of this ever happened, but another part refused to budge until he at least got some closure. Fuck, maybe shit like this is why people turned to things like alcohol and sex to ease their troubles. Even though he didn’t drink, he still found himself craving something to ease the burning in his chest.

Before he even got the chance to knock on the door to Ino and Sai’s house, Ino angrily flung it open and didn’t even bother greeting him before going into an angry tirade, “Go away, Sasuke, don’t you think you’ve done enough? You’re not even supposed to be here!”

Sasuke completely ignored her, “So she is here? Is Salad here, too?”

“Leave, **now**!” Ino commanded with authority.

“Fine, I’ll go, just, could you give Sakura a message for me?” Sasuke asked casually.

Ino sighed in frustration, “Fine, what did you want to say?”

“Just tell her that I’m sorry, and that it’s over between us. I already spoke to Naruto about it, so---“

“Don’t leave me! Sasuke, I still love you!!” came Sakura’s desperate and piercing wail.

“Sakura! Get back!” Ino yelled back, annoyed with her friend.

“Sakura…” Sasuke muttered, taken aback by all the pain and turmoil in Sakura’s voice. “You know I’m not supposed to be talking to you.”

“I don’t care! I don’t care about any of it! I still want to be with you! We can still have a life together!” Sakura screamed desperately as Ino had to hold her back from getting to Sasuke.

It was more painful than Sasuke could have imagined having to listen to Sakura’s desperate pleas. He wanted nothing more than to give in and tear up those stupid papers he’d signed, but he knew there was no going back. “Sakura, listen to yourself, you’re not thinking straight. I could have killed you,” Sasuke tried to reason with her.

“But you didn’t! So it’s okay, I forgive you,” Sakura replied desperately.

“That’s not okay. None of this is okay, and there’s no good that can come of pretending that it is,” Sasuke stated trying to get through Sakura’s near hysteria. “Don’t forget, you lied to me, and I still haven’t forgiven you for that. No matter how much you want to forgive me for hurting you, I can’t forgive myself.”

Sakura calmed down a bit being reminded of her own sins and atrocities, “Then let me make it up to you, give me a chance to earn back your trust. I promise it’ll never happen again.”

“Don’t make promises you don’t know if you can keep, I had promised that I would never hurt you, yet that’s all I’ve fucking done. I hurt you and you continued to just brush it off like it was nothing even though I’d forced you to suffer alone for so long. You soldiered through it thinking it was what I wanted, you never complained once about it until recently. You wanted me to think you were okay even when you weren’t. You didn’t want me worrying about you, but lying to me and hiding the truth from me is even worse.”

“Sasuke, I---“

“Don’t interrupt me, I’m not done,” Sasuke shot back as Sakura tried to interrupt his tirade, “Sakura, I know I don’t say it as often as I should, but I do care about you. I do want you to be happy, and this…us…it’s just not working out. I’m sorry. I can’t give you what you want…what you need. I can’t make you happy like I thought I could. I’m afraid that if I continue to be with you, I’ll continue to hurt you, and next time, I might not hold back at all,” Sasuke finished brokenly.

“You didn’t fail me, if anything, I failed you,” Sakura replied sadly.

“We failed each other,” Sasuke explained, “I kept things from you, you kept things from me. We fooled ourselves into thinking it was working, that we were happy and maybe at one point, we were, but we’ve both changed since then. We’re not the people we used to be, we can’t go back to the way things were.”

“That’s not true, we can get it back, we can be happy, we just have to work together. We have to learn to be more open with each other and not let our emotions get the best of us,” Sakura replied hopefully.

Sasuke sighed in frustration, “It’s too late for that, what’s done is done.”

“What about Salad?” Sakura questioned desperately trying to find something to keep Sasuke from leaving.

The mention of his daughter only worsened the tightness in his chest and made a lump form in his throat. He desperately swallowed and took a few breaths to try to steady himself. “Take care of her for me, let her know that I love her and that I’m sorry,” Sasuke’s voice nearly cracked from emotion. He needed to get out of here before he broke down again. This was starting to be too much for him.

“Why don’t you stay so you can tell her yourself?” Sakura started to cry again, “You’re always like this, so damn stubborn! You get this idea in your head and then nothing can shake you. You honestly think leaving is going to make this any better?! You keep saying you want me to be happy, and that you don’t want to hurt me, so why are you hurting me like this?! You think losing you will make me happy? You think leaving me will make you happy? It won’t! We’re both going to suffer and do stupid things that we’ll regret later and it’ll all be because you gave up and didn’t want to try anymore like a damn coward!” Sakura cried as she struggled desperately against Ino’s hold.

Sakura’s words cut deeply. She was right, Sasuke was giving up; he was running away, hoping that cutting himself out of their lives would protect them from him and his violent tendencies. Maybe he was a coward, but what was he supposed to do? He was so scared of what he could do to her the next time he lost his temper, he couldn’t really think straight. He’d already decided that in order to keep her safe, he’d have to take himself out of the picture; there was nothing she could say that could change his mind at this point. He needed to end this before it got out of hand and if trying to reason with her wasn’t working; then he’d have to try another approach.

“What the hell makes you think I’d even still want to be with a cheating slut like you?” Sasuke bit out harshly. He hid the pain saying those words caused him behind a cold and condescending façade.

“Wh-what?” Sakura uttered confused at the sudden change in tone. “How dare you! It only happened once, and I already apologized for it. You don’t have to be an asshole about it! We can just move past it!” Sakura’s tone taking on an angry edge.

“No, we can’t just move past it. I can’t just move past knowing that my best friend has been inside you. It doesn’t matter how many times it did or didn’t happen. You were mine, you belonged to me and he defiled you.”

“Wha? I’m not your property! I don’t belong to anyone!” Sakura retorted, both outraged at Sasuke’s overly possessive attitude and embarrassed that her friend had to hear all of this.

“Not anymore you don’t. Such a shame, you’d even given me your virginity, what a waste,” Sasuke said in his usual condescending tone.

“Fuck you! You gave me yours, too so I guess that was a sad waste as well,” Sakura tried to counter angrily despite the tears staining her cheeks.

Sasuke chuckled lowly, amused at Sakura’s damned naivety. He looked her dead in the eye, cold façade firmly in place. “You honestly believe I was a virgin when I married you? Heh, I’d never waste such a thing on someone like you.”

“What?! What the fuck?! Then who the fuck was it?! If it happened before we got married, that’s fine, we weren’t really together before then anyway. Wait…you said there were still things you were keeping from me, what the fuck aren’t you telling me?!” Sakura yelled back.

Sasuke smirked cruelly successfully concealing the part of him that was barely withstanding the pain and about to fall apart. “You’re better off not knowing, there’re a lot of things I’ve done that I’m not proud of,” Sasuke replied calmly before turning to leave. “Goodbye, Sakura, have a nice life.”

“Wait! NO!” Sakura screamed as she successfully broke from Ino’s hold and ran towards Sasuke. She wrapped her arms tightly around him and cried into his back, “You’re not leaving me; I won’t let you leave me!” Sakura cried desperately.

Feeling Sakura’s warmth against his back was almost too much for him. It stopped him dead in his tracks. If he wasn’t about to fall apart, he probably would have appreciated the humor in realizing just how similar Sakura and Salad were. Like mother, like daughter, they both clung desperately to the man they loved in a last ditch effort to get him to stay and just like with Salad, Sasuke was forced to knock Sakura out using a genjutsu.

Sasuke turned and caught Sakura before she fell to the floor. Ino was there in an instant and tore Sakura from his grasp. “How could you say that? You really are horrible, I don’t know what I ever saw in you,” Ino spit out in disgust as she carried her unconscious friend away from the clutches of her cruel ex-husband. She glared harshly at Sasuke, not recognizing the man she once loved. Before Sasuke could even reply, Ino slammed the front door in his face. Sasuke just hung his head in despair and slowly turned away. He took a few steps, then turned back for one last glance, secretly hoping the door would fly open and someone like Salad or Sakura would run up to him and drag him back. He knew in his heart, he would let them. He was in such a vulnerable state.

When the door remained firmly shut, he tore his gaze away from it and focused in front of him, beginning the painful journey that would take him out of the village. Despite still being Naruto’s informant, there was really nothing else really tying him to the village, now. The next time he’d pass through these gates, it would be under the guise of someone else and not with the intention to see his family. It was never going to be the same, nothing was ever going to be the same again and that painful realization nearly brought tears to his eyes.

~_~_~_~

Sasuke tried desperately to turn off his own thoughts as he flew through the trees. The emotions swirling inside him were like a maelstrom threatening to swallow him up. He was ridiculously furious with himself for treating Sakura with such cruelty. She didn’t deserve that. She didn’t deserve a scumbag such as himself, she deserved better. She deserved someone who knew how to make her happy, someone who didn’t hurt her constantly, someone who could actually give her what she needed. Someone who could love her the way she deserved to be loved.

At the same time, he was also depressed and sad at losing two of the most important people in his life. He didn’t know if he’d ever be able to fill this hole left behind. Losing family was never easy. He wanted to scream out in rage and break down and cry all at the same time. He was such a mess of emotions. He wasn’t even paying attention to where he was going; just letting his body carry him wherever it wanted to go.

He idly wondered if he was a hypocrite. He’d gotten so upset over Sakura’s actions despite them being rather tame compared to the things he’d done. He’d always considered himself the exception. It was Sakura’s duty to live up to the standards he placed on her; to uphold their marriage, not his. She’s the one that wanted this marriage; he was just doing it to make her happy because he felt sorry for her. Looking back on it, perhaps basing an entire relationship on pity was not that smart of a move. What’s even dumber was assuming the rules didn’t apply to him. Thinking he was exempt from upholding the vows just because his heart wasn’t in it. He’d been a fool.

Ino was right, he was horrible. He didn’t deserve someone like Sakura who would love him unconditionally, he didn’t deserve that because it was in his nature to take advantage of that and Sakura didn’t deserve him doing that to her. He didn’t want to keep accepting her unrelenting forgiveness no matter how badly he hurt her. He couldn’t just keep hiding from the consequences of his own actions. She’d been naive, she trusted him, and she never suspected him until after her own infidelity had shaken her. She’d been a fool. Did she honestly believe that she, alone, could satisfy him? He’d married her despite his heart already belonging to another.

It’s not like he hadn’t made it clear he wasn’t marrying her out of love. She’d even felt guilty about it, but he assured her it was fine since marrying out of necessity was a common practice in his clan. She’d accepted that, but also promised she’d make him fall for her. He’d told her it was at least plausible since his own parents had fallen in love post-marriage, but he didn’t want to make any promises. Especially since he didn’t think it was possible he’d fall for her in the midst of loving someone else.

Love…that must have been why he’d gone into such a blind rage. Sakura had insulted the one woman who meant more to him than she did. Sakura had unknowingly figured it out, but her unshakeable faith in him was probably what caused her to not even take such an assumption seriously. If only she knew what a disgustingly selfish being Sasuke truly was. He thought he could have it both ways. He thought he could have them both all to himself. He’d never thought of it as cheating, what he had with Sakura and what he had with Karin were two completely different things in his mind. Then why hadn’t he told Sakura? Why had he kept it from her? Simple: it was none of her damn business.

Sakura was Sasuke’s charity case. He’d felt bad for all the terrible things he’d put her through. When everyone around her was getting into relationships and getting married, he figured marrying her was the least he could do. He had always thought Naruto would be the one to eventually win her heart and take her off of his hands. That’s why he was surprised when Sakura rejected him after he’d confessed to her. In the midst of Naruto’s heartbreak, he’d made Sasuke promise he’d take care of Sakura for him. At the time, he’d figured marrying her was keeping in line with that promise.     

Just how many promises was Sasuke going to break? No wonder Naruto was absolutely livid when he’d found out what Sasuke had done. He honestly wondered how the other Uzumaki was going to take this news. When he’d brought the news of his engagement to her door, she’d been understandably upset, but she’d come to the conclusion that she owed Sakura a debt and allowing their union would be a way of paying her back. She’d even offered to completely break things off with Sasuke and said things like she wanted him to be happy even if that wasn’t with her. If only Sasuke wasn’t a selfish prick, he probably would have taken her up on that. If only Karin didn’t embody everything he ever wanted and needed in a woman. If only Sakura alone could have satisfied him, then he wouldn’t be in this stupid mess; feeling like he should break off all his bonds and go live alone, because that’s what he deserved.

~_~_~_~

It came as no surprise to Sasuke to find himself staring at a familiar cottage in the middle of the woods surrounded by an intricate detection barrier that made it practically invisible to anyone that didn’t already know it was there; a barrier that he had the key for since he’d been the one to help erect it in the first place. It was late at night; the occupants of said cottage were probably already fast asleep. He quietly and carefully unlocked the door and gently eased his way in.

He silently closed the door behind him and was about to creep towards the bedroom when out of nowhere a screaming 5 year old with the same raven black hair as him and red eyes like Karin’s came barreling towards him screaming ‘DADDY!!!!’

Just like with his daughter, Sasuke knelt down and caught the overly excited child in his arms giving him a big hug. The five year old returned the hug and was practically shaking from excitement.           

Sasuke pulled away to look his son in the eyes. Those crimson red eyes were full of excitement, wonder, and joy. It was almost enough to lift Sasuke’s deadened spirits. While Salad only acted like that part of the time, Shuichi was like this all of the time. He truly was a precious gem. Sasuke secretly hoped he never grew up, having this hyper active child around him reminded him of Naruto’s younger self and he found that oddly comforting.

“I missed you Daddy! Mommy said you weren’t coming again for a while, I’m so happy she was wrong!” Shuichi proclaimed as he hugged his father one more time.

“Oh, I wasn’t wrong, hun, it’s your father who gave me the wrong information, which begs the question, exactly why _are_ you here almost a month sooner than you said you’d be?” Karin questioned skeptically as she entered the living room. She’d been trying to get her hyper active child to calm down and go to bed but the little shit had sprung out of bed the exact same moment that she’d sensed Sasuke at their door.

In truth, she’d sensed him coming from a couple miles away. She hadn’t gone outside to meet him because she’d been hoping she’d get her kid to bed before Sasuke showed up. She knew that there was no getting Shuichi to bed if his father just showed up out of the blue. She found it ridiculously endearing how attached he was to Sasuke.

Sasuke completely ignored Karin’s question in favor of keeping his attention on his son. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed him until he was in his arms like this. “I missed you, too. I’m sorry I just showed up out of the blue like this, I needed to come here, I needed to see you.”

Shuichi just hugged tighter, “It’s okay, Daddy, I like seeing you, too,” the five year old declared happily.

Sasuke cracked a smile at that, his son’s pure and innocent love for him always warmed his heart. It was then that a thought suddenly struck him and he broke away again from the hug, this time holding his son at bay despite his attempts to dive back into the warm and comforting contact.

“Isn’t it way past your bed time?” Sasuke asked Shuichi, perplexed that his five year old son was still awake at this hour.

“I couldn’t sleep, I had a feeling Daddy was coming and I got really excited!” Shuichi exclaimed, still very excited to be in his father’s presence.

“You ‘had a feeling’?” Sasuke asked suspiciously, he glanced over at Karin and raised an eyebrow as if to silently ask if this ‘feeling’ was really just his latent sensor abilities manifesting. Karin nodded at Sasuke’s silent question and Sasuke nodded back, slightly impressed that his son’s abilities were already beginning to manifest at such a young age.

“Well, I’m here now, so that means you have no more reason to stay up.” The little five year old pouted, not liking where this was going.

“But I wanna stay and spend time with you, Daddy, you just got here,” Shuichi whined.

“I’m not going anywhere, we can spend time together tomorrow if you’d like,” Sasuke offered.

“Really?” Shuichi questioned suspiciously.

“Really, but you have to go to bed right now or the deal’s off, got it?”

“Oh, okay,” Shuichi mumbled in defeat knowing there had to be a catch somewhere, but then he got an idea and his face lit up once more, “Will you tuck me in?” he asked excitedly.

“Sure,” Sasuke caved with a sigh amused by his son’s antics.

“Yay!” The crimson-eyed child exclaimed as he bounded towards his room with his two parents trailing after him tired and weary.

Karin turned to Sasuke amused, “I swear, I have no idea where he gets all that energy from, you’d think we accidentally switched our kid with Naruto’s kid,” Karin joked with a laugh.

“You have more in common with your cousin than you think. You’re both loud and eccentric, he probably gets it from you,” Sasuke teased.

Karin’s eyes narrowed and her tone lowered to a whisper as she snidely replied, “And here I thought you liked it when I screamed your name.”

Sasuke flushed a bit at that comment, “That’s not…I wasn’t…hey,” Sasuke sputtered.

“Come on, Daddy, time to tuck in our precious son,” Karin teased innocently from the doorway to Shuichi’s bedroom. Sasuke sighed to himself, wondering why Karin loved torturing him like this, and trudged along so he could hurry up and put his son to bed so that he could have the rest of the night to have Karin help him deal with his issues.

When Sasuke got to his son’s room, he was not surprised to find him already nestled in his bed waiting for him to say goodnight. Sasuke approached the bed where his son lay and grabbed the bed sheet and bed spread and pulled them up to his son’s chin, and then tucked them behind his tiny shoulders making sure he was warm, snug, and secure. He then placed a kiss on his son’s forehead and said, “Goodnight Shuichi,” but when he turned to leave, he was assaulted by one more devious request.

“Tell me a bedtime story,” Shuichi demanded much to Karin’s amusement.

Sasuke didn’t even turn around to respond, “No, go to bed, the deal was that I tuck you in and then you sleep.”

“But I wanna hear a story, Daddy always tells the best stories because he travels all over the place and meets all kinds of people,” Shuichi half-whined cutely. Karin just giggled to herself knowing that stroking Sasuke’s ego was definitely the way to go when you wanted something from him.

Sasuke stopped in his tracks and spun around, “Well, when you put it that way, sure I’ll tell you a story, but you have to promise you’ll go to sleep afterwards, promise?”

Shuichi nodded happily, “I promise,” he grinned mirroring the stupid grin Naruto used to wear in his youth. Sasuke was momentarily taken aback by that, wondering what had happened to turn his best friend into such a bitter and cynical person who’d lost his reason to smile. 

Sasuke took a deep breath to steady his thoughts and get ready to tell his story. Sasuke’s stories were usually based on real events, but they were usually dumbed down so his kid could understand them. Given where his mind was at with his recent divorce, he couldn’t help the story that came out of him.

“Once upon a time, there was a fox, a raven, and a cat.”

“Ooo! I like kitty cats!” Shuichi interrupted excitedly.

Sasuke just smiled at that and continued his story, “Yup, there was a cat, who really liked the raven.”

“But I thought cats eat birds?” Shuichi questioned innocently.

Sasuke again was amused by his son, “Yes, normally they do, but in this story, there’s an exception to that.”

“Oh, okay, so the kitty likes the raven and doesn’t wanna eat him, but the other kitties wanna eat him so she protects the raven from the other kitties?” Shuichi questioned trying to guess the story’s plot.

Sasuke just sighed again, “Not exactly, all the other cats actually like the raven as well and fight the cat for his attention.”

“Wow, that’s one popular bird,” Shuichi marveled.

“Tell me about it,” Sasuke grimaced. “Now, can I get on with my story or are you going to keep asking questions?” Sasuke asked playfully annoyed.

“Nope, I’ll be quiet now,” the five year old relented.

“Good, now where was I? Right, so, there was this cat who liked this raven, but there was also a fox who liked the cat, but the cat had no idea because she was too busy chasing after the raven. The fox hated that the raven got everyone’s attention including the attention of the cat he liked so he declared the raven to be his rival. He vowed to get stronger than the raven and make everyone acknowledge him.”

“Did he do it? Did he get everyone to like him and did he get the cat to like him?” Shuichi interrupted again.

“Well, not exactly. The fox did manage to get stronger, and he did become the center of attention like the raven had once been, but things didn’t work out with him and the cat.”

“What do you mean they didn’t work out? Didn’t the cat finally come to like the fox?”

“Well, the cat never stopped liking the raven and even when the fox told the cat that he liked her, she still rejected him in favor of the raven.”

“Did the raven like the cat back?”

“No, he didn’t.”

“That’s sad. What kind of bed time story is this?”

“You’re the one that wanted one, don’t start complaining now.” Shuichi pouted while Sasuke continued, “So after the fox got rejected, he found comfort in a bunny who’d apparently always liked him but he had no idea until then, so they eventually got together.”

“And they got married and had fox-bunny babies?” Shuichi questioned.

“Uh, yeah, actually, they did. Um, anyways, it wasn’t until the fox and the bunny got married that the cat finally realized she actually did like the fox and seeing the fox and the bunny happy together made her sad.”

“Awwww, poor kitty, this story’s so sad,” Shuichi complained near tears, “What happened next?”

“Well, the raven took pity on the cat and got with her because it was the least he could do after all the trouble he’d caused her.”

“Oh, so then they got married and had raven-kitty babies?”

“Well, they only ended up having one, actually.”

“Oh, okay, so the raven came to like the kitty after all?”

“Uh, something like that.”

“Huh?”

“Well, see, the raven also had a fox that he liked, a different fox, this one was actually that fox’s cousin.”

“What?”

Karin raised a brow at being included in Sasuke’s story but didn’t say anything.

“Wait, so the raven didn’t like the kitty and married her just cuz he felt sorry for her? While he secretly liked the girl fox?”

“Uh, well yeah, at first, but the raven did come to like the cat.”

“Did the raven and the girl fox have secret raven-fox babies?”

“Seriously, what is with you and hybrid babies?” Sasuke questioned exasperatedly.

“Well, did they?” Shuichi questioned dodging Sasuke’s question.

“Yeah, they had one, but it had to be kept a secret so they hid their cub deep in the woods where no one would find him. The mother fox dutifully stood guard over the cub to keep him safe.”

“What did the raven do?”

“Well, you see, the raven was a free spirit, he couldn’t be tied down to any one place since he was a bird, he needed to spread is wings and see the world for himself.”

“Wow, so the raven abandoned both families?”

“He didn’t abandon them, he still visited often to check on his families and make sure they were doing okay. “

“Oh, okay, so did the kitty ever find out about the girl fox or the raven-fox cub?”

“Nope, how could she? They were both hidden deep in the woods and the cat had a kitten of her own to take care of. She couldn’t exactly just go wandering off.”

“Um, okay, so who lived happily ever after in this story?” Shuichi wondered.

“Well, no one, actually. Even though the fox got with the bunny, he never quite got over the cat, so he was always miserable despite having a lovely devoted wife and two beautiful children. While the raven did get to explore the world and satisfy his curiosity, he still bit off more than he could chew thinking he could make both the cat and the girl fox happy.”

“So then what happened?”

“Well, things didn’t work out between the cat and the raven and they ended up splitting.”

“Oh no, what about the girl fox, did she leave the raven, too? Was she mad about the raven-kitty baby?”

“I don’t know, the raven was always open and honest with her, he never did things behind her back.”

“So, she knew?”

“Yes, she knew everything.”

“And she was okay with it?”

Sasuke glanced at Karin noting the rather shocked and angry expression she had after finding out Sasuke left Sakura. She looked like she had a million things she wanted to rant at him about but was holding back for the sake of their son.   

“Uh, yeah, she was, because she knew that no matter what happened, the raven would always like her.”

“So the raven and the girl fox lived happily ever after?”

“Uh, yeah, sure, is that enough for you to sleep?”

“Yup, I’m happy the raven ended up happy in the end, he was my favorite character.”

“Was he?”

“Yup, he was there for the kitty after she made such a terrible mistake that was pretty cool of him.”

“Yeah, I suppose.”

“Goodnight, Daddy,” Shuichi mumbled sleepily.

Sasuke leaned over and kissed his son’s forehead once more, “Goodnight Shuichi.”

Karin also came over and kissed her son’s forehead, “Goodnight, sweetie, we love you.”

“Night Mommy,” the sleepy child mumbled already half asleep.

Karin carefully closed the door behind her then harshly grabbed Sasuke’s arm and practically dragged him over to their bedroom on the other side of the cottage with Sasuke protesting that she didn’t have to pull him but not making a move to dislodge from her grasp either. Once they reached the room, Karin practically threw him inside and closed the door behind her. She looked at him angrily as he tried to right himself. “What the hell, Sasuke? Why the hell did you do that? Are you an idiot?” Karin reprimanded.

“Look, it’s complicated, okay?”

“Really? Well, I’m all ears, you’re the one who claimed to be nothing but ‘open and honest’ with me, so go ahead, open up,” Karin coaxed.

“Karin, I can’t, right now,” Sasuke protested.

“When can you? What do I have to do to get some answers out of you?”

Sasuke just gave Karin a look, “You already know the answer to that.”

Karin just rolled her eyes at him, “Seriously? Is that the only thing you think about? Or is that the only reason you bother visiting?” Karin accused.

Sasuke huffed, “It’s not that, I just, I need it, okay?”

Karin looked at Sasuke incredulously, “What am I? Your drug? Your stress ball?”

“You’re the only thing I have left,” Sasuke admitted brokenly.

It was then that Karin stopped her verbal assault finally realizing how much the split was affecting him. “Holy shit…Sasuke.”

“No, don’t say it, don’t say anything, just let me have this,” Sasuke demanded desperately.

“Fine, but this conversation is far from over,” Karin relented genuinely worried for Sasuke’s well-being and wanting to do whatever she could to help him through this.

“Fine,” Sasuke said pleased that he’d somewhat won their little argument.

* **Warning: The hardcore shit starts now, skip to the next bolded if you’re not into SK smut***

He slammed his lips against Karin’s with such force the back of her head hit the door behind her. She didn’t seem to mind as she returned the desperate and hungry kiss with equal hunger and desperation of her own. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she wrapped a leg around his hips, drawing him in closer. She deepened the kiss, forcefully prodding her tongue into his mouth, Karin’s aggression turned Sasuke on and he allowed her tongue into his mouth, letting his own tongue play with hers in a fiery and passionate dance. After a heated battle, Sasuke emerged the victor and plundered Karin’s warm cavern with his tongue, being sure to trace and memorize every crevice. Karin moaned deeply into the kiss while simultaneously rubbing her lower half against Sasuke. Sasuke growled into the kiss as Karin’s clothed pussy rubbed up against his clothed erection.

He wanted to plow into that stubborn and naughty pussy so bad just like how his tongue was currently plowing into her mouth. He needed to be rid of this barrier between them and he needed it to be gone **now**. Sasuke wrapped his arms around Karin and picked her up without breaking the kiss. The red head was momentarily surprised by the sudden action and yelped into the kiss before she quickly wrapped her other leg around Sasuke and hung on for dear life as Sasuke carried her. Sasuke deposited her onto the bed and immediately started tearing at her clothes. Karin let him tear at the fabric of her night gown not really caring if he tore it to shreds. She carefully undid the clasps securing Sasuke’s cloak and let it fall to the floor while she worked her hands up his shirt kneading the bare skin of his back as his mouth attacked her exposed neck and shoulder.  A low, satisfied moan escaped her as Sasuke paid special attention to the weak spot on her neck.

Sasuke sat up for a moment to remove his shirt before returning to worshiping her flesh. He trailed licks, kisses, and light nips down the other side of her neck while Karin moaned contentedly and threaded her fingers through his soft locks. He harshly sucked on a few spots on her neck and shoulder, being sure to leave as many marks as he could. His possessive nature demanded he mark what was still his in light of his recent loss. He felt Karin’s fingers tighten their hold on his hair as he gave her both what she wanted and what he needed.

Karin hadn’t been wearing anything under her nightgown so once that had been torn away; she was completely naked under him. He enjoyed the feeling of their naked chests rubbing together, Karin’s warmth was a much needed comfort, however, his more carnal instincts threatened to take over, which he was trying to hold back since he didn’t want to just fuck her wildly and then be done with it. That would make it feel like he used her, and it would also prove Sakura and Naruto right; that Sasuke was just using her for sex.

What Sasuke was forgetting was that Karin was just as wild and carnal as him. “Fuck, Sasuke, do it harder. I wanna feel your teeth,” Karin breathed into his ear. That was all it took for Sasuke to completely forget his earlier train of thought and just throw caution to the wind as he sunk his teeth into the flesh of Karin’s shoulder. It was a shallow bite, not deep enough to draw blood, but enough to leave a mark and make the little masochist under him moan out her pleasure. Her grip tightened to the point where her nails were digging into the back of his head, but Sasuke didn’t care, he welcomed the pain it only enhanced the pleasure of being able to indulge in one of his more sadistic fetishes.

Karin gasped and moaned, “So good…do it again….right where I like it…” she panted out. Sasuke obliged her wordlessly, gently turning her head to the other side giving him plenty of access to her neck. He licked and kissed around a particular area, gauging her reactions until he found the spot that made her entire body stiffened under him and gasping shuddering moans escape from her. He’d found her weak spot again, and this time he’d pinpointed exactly where it was. He sucked harshly on the spot, eliciting all kinds of interesting sounds from the woman underneath him, in order to mark where his teeth would go. He licked the spot possessively and then let out a primal growl before he bit into the soft skin of her neck, this time deep enough to draw a tiny bit of blood. Karin screamed in pleasure as her weak spot was harshly stimulated. The delicious mix of sharp pain and piercing pleasure surged through her and washed over her entire body. Wave after wave of intense pleasure pulsed through her system. She could barely breathe, she felt like she was almost on the edge of orgasm despite barely even being touched down there.

She planted her feet on the bed on either side of Sasuke’s legs, took hold of his hips, and used the leverage to thrust her hips up into Sasuke’s still clothed erection. Karin threw her head back and groaned at the action while Sasuke made a sound that was somewhere between a moan and a growl that caressed her ear as she ground her soaking wet pussy against him. Sasuke had dislodged his teeth and was lapping at the bits of blood seeping through the marks left behind when Karin had decided to show her appreciation of the act. His grip on her shoulder involuntarily tightened to bruising and he stopped licking so he could moan into her ear, enjoying her roughly grinding against him. Nothing turned him on more than when Karin took control like this. Even while completely on top of her, she could still find ways to take advantage and turn the situation more in her favor.

It was heady and intoxicating to have that control Sasuke had relied so heavily on suddenly ripped from him. To have to stay on guard or risk being taken advantage of; he didn’t know why, but that was probably the part of their rough play he found the most addicting. Karin was never the type to just lie there and take it. She’d gladly top from the bottom if you gave her even the slightest opening to do so. He felt her nails starting to dig into his hips from the force of her grip and relished the sting knowing it meant she wanted him that badly. Normally he’d tell her to refrain from leaving too many marks on him because there’s only so many times you can pass off the remnants of rough play as battle scars before people started getting suspicious. However, now that that wasn’t an issue anymore, it seemed Karin wasn’t even attempting to hold back anymore.

He lifted his head from the crevice of her neck and shoulder and captured her lips in another searing and breathless kiss as they both continued grinding harshly against each other and swallowing each other’s sounds in their heated kiss. It was impossible to list all the things that made him prefer Karin over Sakura; even her taste was more alluring than Sakura’s. Where Sakura had been more sweet almost like strawberries, Karin was more a mix of spicy and tangy like cinnamon mixed with citrus. It was as intense as it was addicting. Nothing could even compare to it. Sasuke had tolerated kissing Sakura, he wasn’t a big fan of sweet things so he could never really get into it like Sakura seemed to be able to, but with Karin, it was something he craved; something he could never seem to get enough of.   

Sasuke was the one to reluctantly break the kiss and awkwardly pull away, bracing his hands on the bed so he didn’t fall back onto her lips despite how hard she was pressed up against him. He panted, trying to get his breathing back to normal despite his flushed face and sweaty skin. “Karin,” he breathed out, “…stop for a sec…I’m gonna cum in my pants…if you keep doing…that.”

“Awww…guess we better…get those…off of you,” Karin panted out teasingly. She reluctantly let her legs drop to the bed and Sasuke sat up on his haunches and undid his pants, lifting an eyebrow at the large, wet spot encompassing his entire crotch. To which Karin giggled like crazy, “Heehee, it looks like you peed yourself,” she teased holding her hands over her mouth to try and stifle her giggles.

Sasuke glared half-heartedly at her as he got off the bed and carefully removed the soiled fabric, “Oh? You think this is funny? Do you?” Karin shook her head while continuing to giggle; apparently his reaction was making it even more hilarious somehow. “It’s not my fault you’re so damn wet, nor is it my fault that you’re so damn horny that you have to rub yourself against me every chance that you get,” Sasuke complained as he finished removing his pants and boxers. He stepped out of them and returned to being on top of Karin, now fully naked. “Now, where were we?” he mused as he got back to rubbing his now bare erection against her sopping wet snatch. “Mmm, fuck yeah, that’s…so much better,” Sasuke moaned in satisfaction.

“Mmm,” Karin moaned as Sasuke rubbed against her, “Fuck, did you remember to put up a genjutsu barrier? I don’t want Shuichi to think we’re in trouble or something, heh,” Karin questioned breathlessly.

Sasuke was confused by the timing of that question, “Why are you asking me that now after I’ve already made you scream? Don’t you think we would have already been interrupted if he could hear us?”

“Mmm…good point…ah….ngh! Yes! Just like that….fuck!” Karin moaned out as Sasuke continued to grind against her pressing down hard with his hips. Her hands explored along his shoulders and arms, her nails left reddening raised skin in their wake. Sasuke just groaned, the harsh treatment adding to his pleasure. After trailing up his back, her hands finally settled; one on his right shoulder and the other on the back of his head. He knew what she was up to before she was even aware of it herself. He let her roughly pull his head to the side as she leaned up to kiss her own hot trail down the side of his neck. She licked and sucked at the tender flesh causing Sasuke to groan. Her hot breath ghosted up his neck as she licked a trail back up.

“Argh!” Sasuke grunted out when he felt Karin bite into his ear. The deliciously sharp pain was then caressed away by Karin’s slippery wet tongue. “Mmm, fuck,” Sasuke moaned out as Karin licked and sucked on his ear. He had no idea he’d possessed such a weakness, but Karin had been downright ecstatic when she’d first found it; one more delicious torture to add to their growing repertoire. While Sasuke was more sadist than masochist, he didn’t mind a little pain mixed with their play. It was Karin who was the raging masochist. She was the reason their sexual encounters ended up being more intense and rough than some of the actual fights Sasuke’d been in. Every time he tried to ease up or back off, she’d complain and insult him by calling him weak or calling him a pussy. Needless to say, Karin was really good at getting exactly what she wanted out of Sasuke. She’s the reason there were actual dents in their bedroom walls.

After Karin was satisfied, she released her grip on Sasuke and let her head fall back on the bed. Sasuke had stopped grinding against her when she’d started torturing his ear, he just laid there on top of her, legs straddling her thighs, hands planted on either side of her head, panting to try and catch his breath. Karin enjoyed seeing Sasuke all flushed, sweaty, and naked right above her like that. She loved finding ways to make Sasuke come undone and unravel right above her. She idly wondered if Sakura ever got to see this side of Sasuke.  

She teased Sasuke a bit by rubbing herself against him causing him to groan in surprise, “So,” Karin began as she continued rubbing against him, “are you gonna fuck me or are we just gonna keep humping each other like this?” she teased.

“I was getting to that, I didn’t want to just rush through it,” Sasuke tried to explain.

“I can understand wanting to savor it, but you just had a really bad break up, I figured you’d want to take that out on me,” Karin replied still trying to entice him to hurry along a bit.

“I don’t want to just use you for sex, I don’t want to treat you worse than I treated Sakura,” Sasuke admitted guiltily.

“Sasuke,” Karin sighed and put both of her hands on Sasuke’s cheeks, “look, I want this just as badly as you do, and you’re not using me, okay? Just, stop thinking so much and just fuck me. Trust me; you’ll feel a lot better afterwards,” Karin finished her statement by placing a gentle kiss on Sasuke’s lips. It’s little things like that that reminded Sasuke how much Karin loved him. It’s amazing how one little gesture from her could melt away all his doubts like that. It’s like she was more in tune with his wants and needs than he was.

“Fine, but remember, you asked for this,” Sasuke said as he eagerly lifted and spread her thighs. He got on his knees and positioned his erection right up against here dribbling pussy.

“Finally, some actual action,” Karin teased impatiently. 

“You sure you don’t want me preparing you or anything?”

Karin let out a frustrated sigh, “No, you idiot, have you met me? I like rough sex, I thought that was the whole reason you stayed with me,” she pouted.

“Heh, well that’s not the _only_ reason, but yeah, that was part of it,” Sasuke explained as he used Karin’s juices to coat his cock while keeping the head pressed against her snatch.

“Good, now stop trying to change things up and just f—AAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!” Karin moaned out as Sasuke thrust into her mid-sentence to cut her off. “Fuck! Yes! Agh!” Karin moaned as she wrapped her legs around Sasuke’s waist pushing him deeper into her.

Sasuke braced his hands on either side of her head and leaned down to kiss her as he thrust roughly into her tight, wet heat. She wrapped her arms around his neck and moaned into the kiss as Sasuke thrust his tongue inside her mouth mimicking the roughness of his hips. He moaned into the kiss, relishing just how fucking tight she was, fuck it felt amazing. He felt her scratching her fingernails down his back. The sting was stronger than before, she was probably breaking the skin this time, which was fine with him. He’d already made her bleed, so it was only fair. Speaking of which, he broke the kiss to suck on the spot on her neck he had made bleed earlier.

“FUCK!!!” Karin screamed as her pussy tightened around him and her nails dug into his shoulders.

“Did you almost cum?” Sasuke mumbled as he licked at that spot he’d harshly sucked.

“Fuck you, holy shit, fuck,” Karin mumbled a stream of curses as Sasuke continued thrusting into her.

“Hmmm?” Sasuke teased as he continued thrusting deeply into her. He was holding back from just letting go and fucking her wildly, he wanted her to cum before he did.

“What do you…think? You….idiot?” Karin panted between thrusts, “Yes! Fuck! Just like that! Ah!” she moaned.

“Just like this?” Sasuke echoed as he felt her legs tighten around him and her snatch quiver and spasm around him, “You’re just about ready to pop, aren’t you? Here, let me help you,” Sasuke teased as he used one hand to trail down towards where their bodies were connected.

“Wha? What the…fuck…are you….AHHHHHHH!!!!” Karin screamed as Sasuke started rubbing her clit while speeding up his thrusts inside her. “FFFFFUUUUUAAAAHHHHH!!!”  Karin screamed as she came hard, her body spasmed and quivered out of control as her snatch flooded with her juices. Without even thinking she lifted her head and bit hard into the shoulder above her, muffling the rest of her whimpers and moans. She could taste copper in her mouth and knew she’d drawn blood. The coppery taste only seemed to enhance her pleasure further.

“Fuck,” Sasuke grunted as he slowed down his thrusts, trying really hard to hang on but not being able to when Karin’s pussy clamped down on his cock. Sasuke thrust in as deep as he could go and grunted as he came inside her. It was while he was cumming that he felt a sudden and very acute pain in his shoulder. It wasn’t like the earlier pleasurable stings, this was just flat out excruciating. “Fuck! Karin!” Sasuke yelled as he ripped her off of him and sat up abruptly.

“Damn it,” he muttered as he surveyed the damage to his shoulder. There were distinctive bloody teeth marks in his flesh. They were bleeding freely and would have probably needed stitches if not for Karin’s special abilities.

Karin wiped Sasuke’s blood from her lips, unwrapped her legs, and sat up, letting Sasuke’s spent cock slip out of her. “I’m sorry Sasuke, I guess I just lost control of myself,” Karin apologized, “Here, you can bite me and I’ll heal you, recover some of your stamina, and we can go for round two, I promise this time I won’t bite you,” she said as she offered up her right arm to him.

Sasuke just crossed his arms and glared, “Fine, but you better not do that again,” he said before uncrossing his arms, grabbing her arm, sinking his teeth into said arm and sucking out her chakra. Karin threw her head back and moaned lewdly when she felt Sasuke’s teeth break her skin. She loved the feel of his teeth on her flesh, but something about when he’d suck out her chakra felt even more incredible. As he sucked, he could feel the flesh of his shoulder instantly knitting itself back together, and his strength returning to him. After he finished, he released Karin’s arm, and immediately looked at his shoulder. He wasn’t surprised at all to find the flesh completely unmarred.

While Sasuke was examining his shoulder, he left himself wide open and Karin took full advantage of that. She grabbed him by the shoulders and practically threw him onto his back. “What the fuck?” he uttered in surprise as Karin wasted no time climbing on top of him.

Karin leaned over him after straddling his hips. “I’m ready for another go…and it seems you are too,” Karin teased as she rubbed up against Sasuke’s already rapidly hardening cock.

“Jeez, you recover quickly,” Sasuke noted.

“That’s one of the perks of being an Uzumaki, hun.”

“Usually, you’re half dead when I suck out your chakra.”

“That was back when I was a teenager, I’ve perfected my technique since then so it doesn’t drain me as much, also, adults have more chakra and stamina than teens,” Karin explained.

“Yeah, but---“ Karin shut him up with a kiss.

“You talk too much,” she teased before continuing kissing him while rubbing her eager little snatch against Sasuke’s cock.

Fuck would Sasuke be lying if he ever said he didn’t enjoy the fuck out of Karin handling him like this. It’s what made him get so hard, so quickly. They both moaned into the kiss. Sasuke’s hands played with her silky red locks and gripped the back of her head, pushing her deeper into the kiss. Their tongues lazily ran over each other as they both settled into enjoying the kiss mixed with the friction of their hips. Sasuke’s hands soon left her hair to travel down her back and eventually ended up on her hips. He couldn’t help his hips thrusting upwards to try and get more contact with that wet heat. His hands tried to guide her into a quicker and rougher pace, but Karin wasn’t having any of that and she broke the kiss to grab both of his hands and hold them above his head before returning to passionately kissing him muffling his whimpers and sounds of half-hearted protest.

Sasuke bucked up into her, enjoying the playful show of dominance as she continued devouring his lips. Same as Karin, Sasuke wasn’t one to just lay there and take it, even if Karin seemed eager to do all the work, he wasn’t exactly going to make it easy on her.

Of course, Karin had a few tricks of her own up her sleeves. She’d mastered using her chakra chains; she could even separate the chains from her body and use them for binding if she wanted to. Her chains were far more effective and stronger than mere handcuffs; they even sealed chakra. Given that they were made of chakra, it was near impossible to break them once bound.

Before Sasuke had even noticed what she was up to, being heavily distracted by the heated kiss, Karin had managed to snake a chain around his wrists, binding them to the mattress. She broke the kiss, released his wrists from her grip, and sat back to admire her work. The moment she let go, Sasuke had instinctively tried to grab her hips again but was surprised to find his wrists seemingly glued to the mattress.  

“What the hell?” Sasuke questioned as he looked up to inspect what Karin had done this time. “I had no idea you could use those like this,” he stated in amusement.

“Oh, I’m just full of surprises,” Karin boasted.

“Are you going to tie down other parts of me, or is this as far as you planned?” Sasuke teased.

“That won’t be necessary,” Karin replied emphasizing her point by pinning Sasuke’s hips to the bed with just her hands. “See? Now I can grind into you as tortuously slow as I want to,” Karin gloated as she slowly rubbed her crotch against Sasuke’s achingly hard erection.

Sasuke moaned at the deliberately drawn out contact, “Fuck, how exactly is torturing me going to make up for earlier?” Sasuke questioned struggling against her grip.

“Shut up and you’ll see, shithead,” Karin teased using her usual insult for him affectionately.

Sasuke just rolled his eyes, letting her have her way. She moaned and grunted as she purposely smashed her clit against his rock hard cock, causing him to moan as well when she rubbed against his sensitive flesh. “Jeez, are you trying to make yourself cum again or something?” Sasuke questioned with amusement.

“I said, shut up,” Karin groaned, emphasizing each syllable with a thrust of her hips. Sasuke was pleased to find that pissing her off had made her abandon all pretenses of going slow. She desperately ground against him as if she was searching for something. “Maybe this just feels so fucking good, I can’t stop myself.”

“It’d feel better, if you put it inside you,” Sasuke replied cheekily.

“Do you want me to gag you?” Karin threatened.

“Only if you let me stare at your ass while you search around your room for it since I doubt you remember where you last left it,” Sasuke teased.

Karin huffed at him, “Now you’re starting to sound like my perverted cousin. What happened to you being broken and upset?”

“Heh, even though it was cut a little short, I do feel better after getting to cum once. You were right, so I’m in a bit of a good mood, you could say I’m drunk on sex,” Sasuke explained good-naturedly.

Karin just rolled her eyes at him, “Whatever,” she said as she continued grinding against him. It was then that she got a rather diabolical idea in her head. She didn’t need a gag to shut him up. She had something much better than that. She stopped grinding against him and got up off of him.

“So you’re finally gonna do it, then?” Sasuke teased. He was rather talkative when he was in a good mood.

Karin didn’t respond, she just turned around, straddled his face and shoved her sopping wet snatch in his face, “Now put that tongue of yours to good use,” she commanded.

“You do realize I already came in there, right?” Sasuke asked hesitantly.

“Yes, and I also know you like the taste of my pussy so much, you don’t really mind if there’s a bit of your cum mixed in,” Karin teased, “Besides, with how wet I am, I’m sure most of it is already gone by now.”

“Fine, it’s not like I have much of a choice anyway,” Sasuke relented as he started running his tongue along Karin’s labia. It was a rather awkward position to do this in and not having the use of his hands made it more difficult to get at the parts he wanted to without getting his face completely covered in her juices, but then again, that was probably part of why Karin wanted to try this. She loved making a mess of him.   

Sasuke tried his best to ease apart the folds of flesh with just his tongue, and managed to slip it inside, and prod her snatch, being rewarded with more of her addicting flavor. Yes, even her pussy juices were amazing; sharp and tangy with just the barest hint of sweetness. He was glad he didn’t have anything to compare it to; having never tasted Sakura’s juices. It’s not that he was being intentionally mean or neglectful towards Sakura; it’s just that Karin had taught him how to eat out pussy; she’d conditioned him to crave her pussy. He couldn’t physically bring himself to even consider eating anyone else’s pussy, let alone Sakura’s which was probably teeming with unpleasant sweetness, to boot.

Karin’s juices dripped down his chin as he prodded further with his tongue. She was so wet his tongue slipped in further without much effort. He swirled it around lazily inside her, enjoying her warmth, and her intoxicating flavor. Karin was right, he didn’t really mind being able to taste the salty remnants of himself inside her since it was more than overpowered by her taste.

After mashing her crotch in Sasuke’s face, being sure to make a mess of him, Karin leaned over and decided to give his neglected cock some attention. She licked up from base to tip, being rewarded by a muffled sound from the man below her. A self-satisfied smirk made its way across her face before she went ahead and licked his cock some more. After a few more vertical licks, she swirled her tongue around the head a bit, being amused at how Sasuke tried to buck up into her mouth, she held him down with little effort as she continued teasing his cock. She swirled her tongue around his head a bit and then she pressed her tongue hard against the slit on top. This caused Sasuke to shudder and whimper into her folds. She knew that part was really sensitive, and relished the reactions she could always pull from Sasuke.

When Karin felt she’d teased him enough, she wrapped her lips around the head of Sasuke’s cock and felt him stiffen as he prepared himself for her next move. With just the head in her mouth, she ran her tongue over it, enjoying more of Sasuke reacting to her ministrations. When she was satisfied with that, she pushed more of his cock into her mouth being sure to suck hard. She was rewarded with Sasuke removing his tongue from her snatch and running it along her entire crotch, licking up her juices, and moaning into her folds. His hot breath was nice, but she couldn’t help feeling like something was amiss.

She pushed Sasuke’s cock further into her mouth and let it hit the back of her throat, sucking hard all the way through. He turned his head away from her crotch and let out another throaty moan, enjoying the harsh suction on his sensitive flesh. Karin abruptly pulled her mouth off of his cock entirely, causing Sasuke to whimper pathetically at the loss of her warmth. “You call that eating pussy? I know I taught you better than that,” Karin scolded.

“It’s difficult without the use of my hands,” Sasuke explained panting slightly.

Karin just huffed to herself and reached a hand down to her crotch, she placed two fingers on her pussy lips and spread them wide, making more of her juices drip onto Sasuke’s already saturated face. “Is that better for you or do you need me to rub myself, too?” she teased.

“No, that’s good,” Sasuke said before running his tongue along the sensitive inner folds making Karin shudder. “Mmm, looks like it’s good for you, too,” Sasuke teased back.

“Ah, mmm, ngh, fuck, that’s more like it, just don’t choke me, I can’t hold you down with just one hand,” Karin moaned out as Sasuke licked her spread folds, being sure to give extra attention to her clit.

“Sure, but I can’t make any promises,” Sasuke replied honestly before going back to swirling his tongue around Karin’s clit. He was rewarded with her entire body shuddering above him and the hot breath from her gasping moans hitting his cock as she tried to get it back in her mouth.

Karin was having trouble controlling her body while Sasuke was licking and sucking on her clit, fuck that felt amazing. She managed to drop her head onto his cock and just force her shaking and quivering limbs to let her at least bob her head a bit. Her moans were muffled by the cock in her mouth. She could taste a mixture of both her and Sasuke on his cock and it turned her on to no end. Something about covering Sasuke in her scent and flavor was ridiculously sexy. Perhaps it was her slightly possessive nature coming out.

Sasuke prodded Karin’s pussy some more with this tongue, enjoying the reactions it drew from her despite still being stretched out from earlier. He wished he could put his fingers inside her along with his tongue. His tongue wasn’t long enough to reach her g-spot but his fingers were. Karin hadn’t really thought this through. Sasuke withdrew his tongue and nipped at Karin’s sensitive folds enjoying the interesting sounds she made that were muffled by his cock. Her shaking increased and Sasuke knew the added sensation of pain would push her over the edge.

Karin tried to bob her head on Sasuke’s cock but ended up just using it as a gag as she helplessly moaned into it. The fingers holding her folds open for Sasuke were threatening to go limp. Sasuke’s playful nips to her sensitive flesh made little tendrils of pleasure run through each spot he played with. It wasn’t until he got to her clit that her breath stopped all together.

Sasuke felt her shiver and gasp when he nipped her clit. Oh, this is going to be fun. He licked the area he’d nipped and then sucked on it, causing her to practically scream into his cock. She was so close to cumming, he could feel it. That’s when he bit down harshly onto her clit and Karin just completely lost it, her breath completely stolen from her as she quivered and came all over Sasuke’s face, neck, and shoulders. Sasuke tried to catch some of the squirting cum in his mouth but it was just too much for him and it ended up going all over the place. He lapped at her juices, enjoying the pungent flavor coating his tongue. He couldn’t seem to get enough of it.

“Fuck,” Karin gasped as she moaned while laying her head next to Sasuke’s cock. “Holy shit, that was fucking amazing, what the fuck, did you even do?” she questioned between pants.

Sasuke took a break from cleaning up her juices and answered with, “I bit you,” before going back to cleaning her with his tongue.

“Shit,” Karin mumbled as she lay there recovering. She used her hand that had been covered in her juices to stroke Sasuke’s cock. It had gotten slightly soft from being neglected.

“If you’re done, you can untie me, now,” Sasuke said annoyed.

“Who the hell said I’m done, shithead?” Karin teased tiredly.

“Well, you seem to be pretty spent, I’d like to be released before you end up passing out and leaving me like this,” Sasuke stated bluntly.

“Fuck you,” Karin sighed as she stopped stroking and used both hands to lift herself up before moving her crotch away from Sasuke’s face.

“So, are you gonna release me or are you gonna…..Fuck!” Sasuke had teased as Karin crawled over his body, but was cut off when she decided to take hold of his cock and shove her pussy onto it. “Shit,” Sasuke cursed as Karin’s warm, tight, wetness once against enveloped him.

Karin moaned out as she used her legs to work herself up and down Sasuke’s cock. She’d slammed herself onto his cock, all the way in order to shut him up. Even when she was on top, she still enjoyed going as rough and hard as she could. She braced herself on Sasuke’s thighs and roughly slammed herself onto his cock again and again, causing both of them to grunt and moan. Their sweaty bodies collided with slippery and wet noises as Karin continued riding Sasuke.

Sasuke watched Karin’s ass bobbing up and down, wishing he could grope it while she rode him. He wanted to grab her hips and slam her even harder onto him. He wanted to touch her so bad; he struggled desperately against the chakra chains binding his wrists.    

Karin felt him struggling and was amused by it. “Ya know,” she panted out, “if you wanna touch me, just beg for it, and I’ll let you go.”

“Mmm, fuck no,” Sasuke moaned out in response.

“Suit yourself,” Karin teased as she leaned back and braced herself on Sasuke’s stomach, changing up the angle and managing to hit her g-spot with more accuracy. “Fuck! Yes! Ah!” she moaned out, enjoying herself.

Sasuke grunted and moaned both in pleasure and in frustration. That little bitch had managed to make him want to touch her even more just by denying him and teasing him. Shit, now she was slowing down, fuck. She was torturing him on purpose, trying to get him to degrade himself for her. There were a lot of things Sasuke let Karin get away with. He let her talk back to him, he let her insult him and call him names, he let her tease him and tie him up, but fuck her if she thinks she’s going to get him to beg. Uchiha Sasuke did not beg.

Karin enjoyed herself, bobbing up and down on Sasuke’s cock, waiting for him to break. She groped her own breasts and hammed up the moaning. “Mmm, fuck, I love how soft and squishy my tits are, they feel so good,” she moaned out as she continued groping herself.

“Fuck, if you let me go, I’ll bite you some more, I know how much you like that,” Sasuke said trying to bargain his way to freedom.

Karin saw right through his ploy, “Mmm, I do like when you bite me, it feels so good to have your teeth buried in my flesh, mmm,” she moaned out.

Well fuck, that completely backfired on Sasuke, now he was both itching to grope her and bite her. While he could be incredibly stubborn at times, Karin was probably the only person besides Naruto who could out-stubborn him on anything. She’d gladly forego having his hands and teeth on her if it meant she could get him to do something he didn’t normally do. While he was enjoying the feel of her pussy wrapped around his cock, he couldn’t help wanting so much fucking more it hurt.

That’s when that little minx decided to turn her head, flip her long crimson locks out of the way so Sasuke could plainly see, and pretend to bite her own right shoulder. Fuck her! That was right where Sasuke had already put a mark on her; she wasn’t supposed to mark herself! That’s not how it worked. Sasuke struggled furiously against his bonds, his possessive nature not allowing him to sit idly by. Perhaps a little self-degradation wasn’t so bad after all, it certainly beat being out right tortured like this.

“Fine, stop, just let me go, let me touch you,” Sasuke desperately sputtered out.

“Tsk tsk, that’s not begging, you’re just ordering me around.”

“Karin! Let me go, come on,” Sasuke practically whimpered.

“Getting there, but I need a ‘please’ in there before I’ll budge,” Karin teased.

“Fuck,” Sasuke grumbled out in frustration, “Fine, please, let me go,” Sasuke replied harshly.

“Nah, say it like you mean it,” Karin chided.

Sasuke let out a frustrated and angry sigh. Karin was taking this a bit far. “Please, let me touch you, let me grope you, I want to feel you, I want to bite you,” Sasuke whined pathetically.

“There we go, now was that so hard?” Karin teased as she snapped her fingers and made the chakra chains disappear. As soon as Sasuke was free, he immediately sat up and his hands flew around her, groping her breasts and nipping at the shoulder she’d threatened to bite earlier. Karin moaned in satisfaction as she continued using her legs to push herself up and down Sasuke’s cock. Sasuke thrust up desperately into her, she was amused that even in this position he was trying to take control.

Karin threw her head back and moaned when she felt Sasuke’s sharp teeth piercing the flesh of her right shoulder, “Ngh! Yes! Fuck!” He bit right next to the mark he’d left on her earlier. This time it bled freely and Sasuke licked up the blood eagerly; the coppery taste filling his mouth and adding to his pleasure.

When Sasuke was done marring her shoulder, Karin reached behind her and grabbed his head, turning her own head back towards his, and capturing his lips in another fiery kiss. They both moaned into the kiss relishing the tangy coppery taste pervading it. Sasuke’s hands drifted towards her hips and slammed her down onto his cock hard; causing her to gasp into the kiss as he expertly hit her g-spot with the angle. Sasuke plundered Karin’s mouth when he’d made her gasp. While she was distracted, he used his grip on her hips to force her into a more frenzied and desperate pace.

Karin didn’t mind the loss of control; she trailed one hand to her clit and started rubbing furiously in time with Sasuke’s thrusts. Their bodies collided over and over again; Karin finally broke away from the kiss to moan out her pleasure.

Sasuke could tell both of them were getting closer, but he didn’t want to finish like this, barely being able to move. If she truly wanted to make it up to him, then she’d let him take her the way he wanted to. Without much warning, Sasuke threw Karin off of him and onto her hands and knees.

“What the fuck! I was so close!” Karin whined.

“Just stay like that,” Sasuke ordered cryptically.

“Wait, wha--? AHHHH!!!” Karin screamed as Sasuke took hold of her hips and shoved his cock back inside of her. “Fuck! Ah!” Karin moaned as Sasuke roughly slammed into her again and again like a wild animal.

Sasuke moaned in satisfaction, he loved how deep he could slide into her from this position. It was much easier to move and even easier to brush against her g-spot on every thrust. He felt that familiar tight heat wrapped around his cock all the way to the hilt. It felt so good, he had to hone all his will power not to cum sooner than he wanted to. He could feel Karin shaking under his bruising grasp, barely able to hold herself up as he relentlessly pounded into her. He knew she was close, and he refused to cum before she did. While he was fucking her, he leaned over her, admiring the still bleeding wound on her right shoulder. He lapped at it for a bit and then moved to licking her neck and left shoulder as he buried himself deep inside her.

“Fuck! Ah! Don’t just lick me! Fuck!” Karin’s garbled moans didn’t even register with him as he ran his teeth along her flesh.

Just the little nip from Sasuke on her shoulder was all it took to send Karin careening over the edge. Her entire body shook with the force of her orgasm and Sasuke felt her insides clench down on his cock making it near impossible to keep going. He struggled to hold on and get a few more less coordinated thrusts in before succumbing to the delicious pressure around his cock and burying himself deep inside her. He felt himself quiver and shake from the force of his orgasm and bit down hard on her left shoulder as he shot his cum deep inside her. His moans where completely muffled by the flesh locked between his teeth and drowned out by Karin’s screaming moans.       

Karin slumped forward and Sasuke leaned back, both trying to catch their breath after such a wild session. Karin felt Sasuke’s softened cock slip out of her and a torrent of both his and her cum spill out. She was too tired to move, let alone clean up the mess. Sasuke didn’t seem to care either that his crotch and his face were covered in her juices. He just fell back onto the pillows and stared up at the ceiling wafting in afterglow. He wiped the blood off his lips and stared at it for a bit in a daze before licking it off his fingers.

***End of the hardcore smut***

“Hey Karin, you still conscious?” Sasuke called towards the unmoving lump at the foot of the bed.

“Yeah….barely,” Karin mumbled from her position on the bed, with her butt still sticking up in the air.

“Heh, stay like that and you might be in for a third round,” Sasuke teased.

 Karin fell over onto her side at that, “Don’t tempt me, asshole.”

“I’m just kidding, calm down,” Sasuke replied.

Karin managed to crawl her way up to where Sasuke was and lay her head on his sweaty chest. “Ugh, we both need a bath,” she grimaced.

Sasuke absently threaded his fingers through her slightly damp locks, “It’s the middle of the night and we’re in the middle of the woods, if you wanna go take a dip in the river, be my guest, but I’d rather wait until morning, it’s freezing tonight.”

“Hun, it’s almost morning, we literally fucked all night,” Karin deadpanned.

“Whatever, I just wanna lay here.”

“That works for me,” Karin replied nuzzling into Sasuke’s chest affectionately. “Hey, wait a sec, you’ve still gotta tell me what happened,” Karin pointed out.

“Do I have to? I was kinda enjoying this,” Sasuke complained still absently stroking her crimson locks.

“Yes,” Karin replied definitively.

“Why do you even care?”

“Because I care about you and if something’s bothering you, it helps to be able to talk about it with someone.”

“Even if it has to do with my relationship with another woman? That doesn’t bother you at all?” Sasuke questioned disbelievingly.

“Of course it bothers me, but I allowed it to happen and even offered to step down for it, so I have no right to complain,” Karin admitted honestly.

“So why didn’t you?”

Karin glared at Sasuke, “Well, I blame you taking me along with you on your journeys even after you got married and naively thinking nothing would happen between us.”

“Oh…right…why did you agree to come with me if you knew it was such a bad idea?” Sasuke questioned accusingly.

“Because I didn’t want your stupid ass to be all alone if I could help it. It’s not my fault we’re so sexually compatible we couldn’t keep our hands off each other,” Karin defended with a huff.

“Wait…are you implying that me and Sakura were sexually incompatible?”

“No, you just suck at sex.”

“Says the woman who managed to cum three times in one night because of me.”

“Well, that’s because I’m awesome at sex and I can bring that out in you, you however, are not, and you can’t get other people to be as awesome as me in bed so you just end up getting bored with them,” Karin chided.

“Excuse you? Where the hell did this come from?”

“Hun, you don’t remember when you complained to me about your disastrous wedding night?”

“Yeah…I remember that,” Sasuke said slightly embarrassed.

“Instead of helping your virgin wife to be more like me in bed, you just complained that she was a virgin and blamed the whole bad experience on that.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, “I actually did try to help her participate a bit more but she was so scared and nervous, I just gave up half way through.”

“So you didn’t try kissing or hugging her or comforting her in any way to try and ease those nerves?” Karin questioned amused.

“No, why would I do that?” Sasuke questioned confused.

“Um, because she’s your wife? Then again, you were never the type for comfort and emotional support. You’re so blunt and honest, you’d probably make it worse without meaning to,” Karin teased before breaking into giggles.

“Are you making fun of me?” Sasuke asked indignantly.

“Nah, I just find it hilarious how completely tactless you are.”

“Hn.”

“So come on, tell me what happened already, I’d like to know what it is you’re trying to fuck out of me,” Karin teased.

“You seriously don’t want to know,” Sasuke replied tiredly.

“What? Did you two have a fight or something?”

“Yeah, over something stupid.”

“So what ended up happening? Did she find out about us?”

“She slept with Naruto,” Sasuke’s grip on Karin’s hair tightened as he recounted Sakura’s infidelity.

“Wow, so she unknowingly gave you a taste of your own medicine,” Karin commented amused.

“It’s not funny,” Sasuke defended annoyed, “This is why I didn’t want to talk about it with you,” he said with a huff.

“Aww, I’m sorry, hun, I didn’t mean to upset you, but it’s kinda hypocritical of you to have a long-standing affair with me and then get upset when your wife cheats on you,” Karin pointed out.

“You’re saying I don’t have a right to be upset that she lied to me and kept things from me? I never considered what we had to be cheating, it was necessary to keep our marriage going.”

“What the hell are you talking about? An affair is an affair whether you want to consider it one or not. If it wasn’t that big of a deal, you wouldn’t have kept it from her,” Karin pointed out.

“It wasn’t any of her business.”

“Yes it was, she was your wife, where you put your dick _was_ her business.”

“Fine, you want me to say it? Fine, I’m a dirty scumbag who cheats on his wife and has illegitimate children behind her back. Why exactly are you choosing to stay with me, again? You’d think you’d either be worried I’d cheat on you, or I’m just so disgusting you wouldn’t want anything to do with me.”

Karin sighed, “Why indeed? Maybe I’m just insane for still loving your sorry ass or maybe the sex is so good I just don’t care.”

“You still love me?” Sasuke asked, genuinely surprised.

“Yes, I still do,” Karin admitted wholeheartedly.

“Why? I don’t love me, I hate me,” Sasuke admitted sadly.

“I don’t know why, I just do. I mean, if I were more selfish about it, I would have stolen you away from your wife years ago. I would have made you break ties with Konoha, and made you live with me.”

“So why didn’t you?” Sasuke questioned.

“Because, I didn’t want to take you away from your friends and the family you built in Konoha. I knew how much those bonds meant to you, and there’s no way I would ever ask you to sever them on my account; which is why I’m fucking pissed at you that you went ahead and did that anyway.” Karin angrily replied as her nails which had been lightly scraping along his chest now dug into it out of anger.

“Ow, shit, well I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you, it’s just, after what happened, I didn’t feel like I had a right to keep any of the bonds I had, including the ones with you and Shuichi,” Sasuke admitted.

“What, so you were going to leave us, too? This was going to be a farewell fuck and then you’re on your way? Where the hell were you planning to go? What the hell were you planning to do? Just stay all alone and torture yourself until one day you just give up on living and die a sad and lonely death? You think that kind of death is befitting of the last Uchiha?”

Sasuke sighed exasperatedly, “Look, you don’t know what happened. You’d probably leave me after I told you for fear of your own safety.”

“Really? Cuz if I remember correctly you almost killed me once and I’m still here. Not to mention ever since I unlocked my special chakra chains, I’ve been able to heal back almost any non-fatal wound instantly.”

“That’s not what I,” Sasuke sighed, “Look, I have a temper, and I’m dangerous to be around.”

“Yeah, I could say the same thing about myself, but you don’t see me pushing you away and telling you to stay the hell away from me,” Karin countered.

“You’re right, we did get into a fight and it got ugly. We started yelling at each other, and it didn’t get really bad until she insulted you. I don’t know why, but when she called you a…a whore, I just completely lost it.”

“What? What did you do? I thought you said she didn’t know about us.”

“She didn’t, she was just finding something to accuse me of in order to make her feel better about her own infidelity.”

“Sasuke…what did you do?” Karin questioned, dead serious.

“I…I don’t know what came over me, I just…moved without even thinking.”

“Sasuke…”

“Somehow, I made a fist and put chakra behind it, and ended up breaking her jaw,” Sasuke admitted about ready to cry.

Karin’s head shot up in surprise and she looked Sasuke dead in the eye, “What the fuck is wrong with you?! You don’t fucking do that!” Karin yelled.

“See? I told you you wouldn’t want anything to do with me if you knew,” Sasuke admitted brokenly.

“Ironically that’s probably the one thing I wouldn’t be able to heal because you can’t bite me with a broken jaw. So what the hell happened after that? Did she hit you back?”

“No, she ran, and then I broke down and cried,” Sasuke recounted painfully.

“Sasuke…” Karin mumbled out as she noticed tears starting to leak from Sasuke’s eyes. All her anger at Sasuke just melted away and she hugged and comforted him as best she could. “Don’t cry Sasuke, I know it’s hard.”

Sasuke couldn’t help himself and cried into the shoulder he’d previously bitten, “You have no idea. You didn’t see the way she looked at me, like I was going to kill her. She was so scared and I just…I’m horrible,” Sasuke continued to sob.

“You must have really loved her,” Karin pointed out as she let Sasuke cry into her shoulder.

“What are you talking about?” Sasuke questioned confused at how Karin could have come to that conclusion.

“Look at yourself; you’re a complete mess over hurting her. You’re such a drama queen; you didn’t want to even give yourself another chance with her and would rather break things off than risk hurting her again. You didn’t think that you two could come back from this? You didn’t think you could work it out?” Karin admonished.   

“I didn’t want to give myself another chance, I’d promised myself I wouldn’t hurt her and I broke that promise.”

“You and your promises,” Karin sighed.

“There has to be consequences, I can’t allow myself to just get away with whatever. You have to draw the line somewhere.”

“Sounds more like you’re just running away.”

“I thought I could make her happy. You told me that marrying her and having a kid with her would make her happy.”

“There’s more to it than just that. You have to maintain that happiness somehow, you can’t just expect it to linger,” Karin corrected.

“We just ended up making each other miserable. Things had been bad between us for a while and they just kept getting worse. It’s my fault, I neglected her and practically drove her to cheat on me,” Sasuke said between sobs. “Even when we were together, it was like we were a million miles apart. I felt closer to her in those damn letters than I did in her presence.”

“Aww, Sasuke, it’s not all your fault. If my cousin was less of a scumbag, he never would have slept with her,” Karin offered.

“Then it would have just been some random guy she met at the bar which would have been worse.”

“Sasuke...” Karin said as she pulled Sasuke into a sitting position and let him lean on her while she rubbed his back in a comforting gesture. “What’s done is done, there’s nothing you can do to change the past. All you can do is move forward. If you still want to be alone, I can’t stop you, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to sit here and list out the hundreds of reasons as to why that is a fucking terrible idea.”

Sasuke chuckled a bit at that, “Yeah, that’s something you would do.”

“Look, we all make mistakes, that’s part of what makes us human.”

“It still hurts like hell,” Sasuke replied bitterly.

“No matter what happens, you’ll still have me, I’m not going anywhere and neither is Shuichi,” Karin soothed.

Karin’s words caused a plume of warmth to spread over the painful tightness in his chest. His arms came up and cautiously encircled her. “Thank you, Karin, you have no idea how much that means to me,” he whispered softly.

Karin returned the hug, “You’re welcome, hun, I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Sasuke mumbled into her shoulder.

“Now let’s get some sleep so we’ll have the energy to deal with our hyper active child in the morning,” Karin suggested.

“Yeah, that’s for sure,” Sasuke agreed as they both laid back down on the bed. Karin put her head on his chest like she’d had it before.

“Oh and I haven’t had a chance to go hunting so you’ll have to catch breakfast in the morning,” Karin suddenly remembered.

“Heh, I’ll bring Shuichi with me, I’m sure he’d love to get some use out of that bow I made him,” Sasuke staring up at the ceiling, going back to absently stroking Karin’s hair.

“He’s been practicing, he’s gotten quite good.”

“Good, I can’t wait to see how much he’s improved.”

“Yeah, but before that, the three of us are definitely taking a bath,” Karin mumbled into his chest, referring to the stickiness still clinging to them.

“Hn,” Sasuke replied sleepily in agreement before drifting off. He was completely exhausted; physically, emotionally, and mentally. Today had been an extremely shitty day, hopefully tomorrow would be better.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awww, don't cry Sasuke, every time you cry it makes me wanna cry. ;_;
> 
> Yes, I made an SK love child OC, and he's fucking adorable. :P
> 
> I needed some fluff after putting Sasuke and myself through hell.
> 
> And yes, Sasuke's bed time story is supposed to be bad, he's terrible at telling stories. lol.
> 
> And yes, Karin is perfectly fine with Sasuke making weapons for her 5 year old son. He needs to learn how to hunt sooner or later.


End file.
